Exoplanets don’t give up their secrets easily, but astronomers keep finding ways to coax information out of distant worlds. Researchers have used a new technique to detect water vapor around a giant planet 51 light-years from Earth. The method expands the number of exoplanet atmospheres that can be probed.
Exoplanet researchers focus a lot of effort into investigating atmospheres, says Heather Knutson, a Caltech astronomer not involved with the new study. Atmospheres “can tell us interesting things about how planets evolve.” The presence (or absence) of molecules records information about the planet’s environment and formation history. And exoplanet chemistry may be the only sign of life on far-away worlds.