Hubble is a carbon dioxide planet finder

William Atkins
Wednesday, 10 December 2008 05:07

Science - Space

NASA announced on 12.9.2008 that its extraordinary Hubble Space Telescope (HST)  discovered the chemical compound carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a Jupiter-sized star called HD 189733b. This discovery is important in the continuing search for life on other planets in the Universe.


The NASA media release “Hubble telescope finds carbon dioxide on an extrasolar planet” states that “This breakthrough is an important step toward finding chemical biotracers of extraterrestrial life.”

It adds, "This is the first time a near-infrared emission spectrum has been obtained for an exoplanet."

The importance of this discover lies in the fact that a telescope, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, positioned on or around the Earth can measure carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other substances that are considered the basic ingredients for life on planets orbiting a star.

Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of two atoms of oxygen (O) double bonded to one atom of carbon (C).

In previous observations, Hubble, along with the Spitzer Space Telescope, found water vapor and methane in the atmosphere of HD 189733b.

HD 189733b is an extrasolar planet (also called an exoplanet; that is, a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun) about 63 light-years away from Earth. The nearest star, other than the Sun, is Proxima Centauri, which is about 4.242 light-years away from us.

The planet orbits about the star HD 189733 (also called V452 Vulpeculae), a binary star system consisting of a primary orange dwarf star and a smaller, secondary red dwarf star. French astronomers discovered the exoplanet orbiting the primary star on October 5, 2005.

Located within the constellation Vulpecula (“The Fox”), the planet is classified as a “hot Jupiter” class Jovian planet.

On page two, NASA's  talks about the importance Hubble is to the discovery of exoplanets, although its initial mission was to explore the distant Universe, not exosolar planets relatively close to our solar system.