ESA Hubble Science Release | 2014 Sep 24
NASA Telescopes Find Clear Skies and Water Vapor on ExoplanetAstronomers using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Kepler Space Telescope have discovered clear skies and steamy water vapour on a planet outside our Solar System. The planet, known as HAT-P-11b, is about the size of Neptune, making it the smallest exoplanet ever on which water vapour has been detected. The results will appear in the online version of the journal Nature on 24 September 2014.
The discovery is a milestone on the road to eventually finding molecules in the atmospheres of smaller, rocky planets more akin to Earth. Clouds in the atmospheres of planets can block the view of what lies beneath them. The molecular makeup of these lower regions can reveal important information about the composition and history of a planet. Finding clear skies on a Neptune-size planet is a good sign that some smaller planets might also have similarly good visibility. ...
NASA | STScI | JPL-Caltech | 2014 Sep 24
Major Milestone in the Search for Water on Distant Planets
College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences
University of Maryland | 2014 Sep 24
Water vapour absorption in the clear atmosphere of a Neptune-sized exoplanet - Jonathan Fraine et al
- Nature 513(7519) 526 (25 Sep 2014) DOI: 10.1038/nature13785 (pdf)