images

Artist's impression of exoplanet HD 189733b

by

ESA/Nasa/UCL/Novapix

Reference

a-exo99-00621

Date

2008-10-04

Artist's impression of the extrasolar planet HD 189733b, now known to have methane and water. Astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to detect methane " the first organic molecule found on an extrasolar planet. Hubble also confirmed the presence of water vapour in the Jupiter-size planet's atmosphere, a discovery made in 2007 with the help of the Spitzer Space Telescope. They made the finding by studying how light from the host star filters through the planet's atmosphere.