Water found in the atmosphere of the planet beyond our solar system

LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have detected for the first time water in the atmosphere of a planet – like planet gravitating around a distant star, proving that it 's not the same. an essential ingredient to life exists beyond our solar system, according to a study released Wednesday.

Water vapor has been found in the atmosphere of K2-18b, one of hundreds of "super-Earths" – worlds ranging in size from Earth to Neptune – documented in a new, growing area of astronomy devoted to the exploration of alleged exoplanets elsewhere in the world. the galaxy of the Milky Way.

More than 4,000 exoplanets of all types and sizes were detected in the set.

The latest discovery was reported in research by a team of scientists from University College London (UCL) published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy.

"We found water," UCL astrophysicist Ingo Waldmann told Reuters in light of observations made using the Hubble Space Telescope, which analyzed filtered starlight in the atmosphere of K2-18b.

Specifically, this is the first time scientists have found water in the atmosphere around a super-Earth – as opposed to a gas giant – orbiting around from a star in its "habitable zone", just the right distance so that the liquid water potentially exists surface.

Angelos Tsiaras, an astronomer at UCL, said his team focused on identifying exoplanets with conditions similar to those of the Earth.

"But of course, it's not to find a place where we could go. It's still science fiction, "said Tsiaras, noting that K2-18b climbs around a dwarf star in the constellation Lion, 100 light-years from Earth.

While sunlight takes several minutes to reach Earth, the light of the K2-18b star takes a century to reach our planet. "It's impossible for us to travel there," he said.

"Given that we are so far away, we have no choice but to stay on our own Earth, so it is important to give the Earth back its place instead of looking for an alternative," said Tsiaras.

In addition to the enormous distance separating the Earth from K2-18b, the exoplanet is probably exposed to a much larger radiation than the Earth, which diminishes the life perspectives evolving there.

However, this discovery leads astronomers to respond closely to the fundamental question of the specificity of the Earth in the universe, said scientists.