Hints of rain clouds on small alien world

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This is interesting

<<Two teams of astronomers have for the first time detected water vapor around a small planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a distant star, and they’ve even found hints of rain in its liquid water clouds. The discovery shows that water, considered an essential ingredient for life, exists in the atmospheres of small exoplanets, which astronomers had suspected but never observed.


“It’s superexciting,” says astronomer Nikku Madhusudhan of the University of Cambridge Institute of Astronomy in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the studies. “No one would have predicted this, even a couple of years ago.”>>

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/201...ceNow&utm_source=JHubbard&utm_medium=Facebook

 

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BBC coverage

Water found for first time on potentially habitable planet

Astronomers have for the first time discovered water in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting within the habitable zone of a distant star.

The finding makes the world - which is called K2-18b - a plausible candidate in the search for alien life.

Within 10 years, new space telescopes might be able to determine whether K2-18b's atmosphere contains gases that could be produced by living organisms.

Details were published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy.

The lead scientist, Prof Giovanna Tinetti of University College London (UCL) described the discovery as "mind blowing".

"This is the first time that we have detected water on a planet in the habitable zone around a star where the temperature is potentially compatible with the presence of life," she said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-en...VYEUGOdTu9EK7ZkmHOiKPxl4tlyTrqbFBKWmLYT5ohPzI