Hubble Update Today

Hubble Detects Organic Molecule on an Extrasolar Planet

“NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 19, to report on the first-ever detection of the organic molecule methane in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting a distant star. Though the planet is too hot to support life as we know it, the finding demonstrates the ability to detect organic molecules spectroscopically around Earth-like planets in habitable zones around stars.”

Editor’s note: I am sorry that I did not post this earlier. Despite repeated requests NASA PAO seems to be incapable of putting me on a simple email list so as to allow me to get these media updates as they are issued. Of course, I complain, and PAO says that I am on the list – yet I seem to miss out on a fair number of things. Curiously, no one else on Earth seems to have a problem getting email to – or from – me. Sometimes I get things at 4 or 5 in the afternoon that have been sent to a distribution list at 10 in the morning.