The coolest-sounding science news of the moment is undoubtedly "Hubble Finds First Organic Molecule on an Exoplanet""
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has made the first detection ever of an organic molecule in the atmosphere of a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting another star. This breakthrough is an important step in eventually identifying signs of life on a planet outside our solar system.
Of course, that sounds a little more dramatic and impressive than the reality: they used absorption spectroscopy of the plent's atmosphere to detect the presence of methane in its atmosphere. Now, technically, methane is an organic molecule, but if you stick "organic molecule" into a headline, most people are going to think of complex hydrocarbon chains and that sort of thing.
That doesn't mean it's not an impressive result-- it is. It's pretty amazing that they're able to get this information at all. I continue to be very impressed at the ingenuity of astronomers. And also at their boundless capacity for surprise:
The astronomers were surprised to find that the planet has more methane than predicted by conventional models for "hot Jupiters." "This indicates we don't really understand exoplanet atmospheres yet," said [JPL's Mark] Swain.
You know, at this point, after however many dozens of extrasolar planet detections that completely confound the current models of these systems, I think I'd only be surprised if a result did match the predictions of the conventional model...
Physical Science
Comments
Methane? That's handy; at least when we get there, our BBQ grills will work.
But how will we power our guitars? Is there a magnetosphere?
Posted by: Johan Larson | March 20, 2008 8:37 AM
Jeez... cut the planetary scientists a break will you? They only have 8 and a half data points!
Posted by: dr. dave | March 20, 2008 9:01 AM
Once upon a time, it occurred to me that "mining" for methane on Jupiter (say) would end our energy crisis for centuries to come. But if we imported too much methane, we would have to start worrying about an oxygen shortage, which would be a more severe problem than an energy shortage.
I wonder if there are any plentiful extraterrestrial supplies of oxygen? I don't think so---oxygen is a product of photosynthesis and doesn't occur in pure form without plants.
Posted by: Daryl McCullough | March 20, 2008 10:54 AM
And also at their boundless capacity for surprise
Count the microwave engineers in on that trait. Every year at MTT IMS for the past several years, ever since the first practical realizations of metamaterials, there have been panel sessions, poster sessions, and collections of talks all organized around the principle, "Yeah!! Maxwell's Equations still work! Maxwell rocks, d00de!"
Which, yes, Maxwell does rock. But perhaps if we could now throttle back on the enthusiasm and restrict ourselves at the engineering conferences to papers which point the way to better engineering designs....
Posted by: John Novak | March 20, 2008 11:42 AM
"Now, technically, methane is an organic molecule, but if you stick "organic molecule" into a headline, most people are going to think of complex hydrocarbon chains and that sort of thing."
I'm not sure I'd agree. I suppose things are quite different on planets with different conditions, but you can't expect to find things much more interesting than methane in the atmosphere. Remember, anything with more than 3 or 4 carbons won't be a gas.
Posted by: Dennis | March 20, 2008 12:43 PM
But Jupiter has more methane than Jupiter-like planets. I remember when Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit, and everyone was going, "Where'd all that methane come from? That wasn't supposed to be there!"
Posted by: Cherish | March 20, 2008 5:35 PM
... you can't expect to find things much more interesting than methane in the atmosphere. Remember, anything with more than 3 or 4 carbons won't be a gas.
That rather depends on the temperature and the pressure, doesn't it? E.g., octane (C8H18) has a boiling point (at 1atm) of 125 Celsius/399 K, which is significantly cooler than the temperature of a typical "hot Jupiter".
Or just look at some of the things you can get in Titan's atmosphere, starting with benzene and going on up to things with masses of several thousand Daltons (e.g., this article).
Posted by: Peter Erwin | March 21, 2008 9:26 AM