Submission + - Carbon doxide and water found on exoplanet (bbc.co.uk)
Off the Rails writes: "The BBC reports that evidence has been found for both water vapour and carbon dioxide on a planet 63 light years away. The planet is a "hot Jupiter" with a surface temperature of 1173K and an orbital period of just 53 hours. The gases were found spectroscopically once its orbit had been deduced from observation. From the (typo-strewn) article: "They found HD 1897733b goes round its star every 2.2 days, by taking measurements over several orbiting cycles and deducting the radiation produced during the time when they couldn't see the planet — when it was behind its star — they were able to see how much radiation the planet emitted on it's own." NASA hailed the news as proof that Kepler will be able to do its job of finding planets capable of supporting life."
