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19 comments

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edem
It is a gas giant with water, not a terrestrial planet. Sorry to burst your bubble.
[dead] commonsense1234
more than a bubble bursting. it is an important milestone in discovering water so far away.
YeGoblynQueenne
From what I understand the important news is that it was possible to detect the presence of water in the first place, using a new technology (or rather, combination of technologies).
iamgopal
Have we established that only terrestrial planets can host life?
ianai
My thinking too! Sample size of 1 really can’t be generalized!!
craftyguy
Nope, that has not been established.
hliyan
It's amazing when you consider that this is a direct image (the first image in the article) of planets almost 200 light years away, taken from telescopes on the surface of the Earth -- something that would have made me jump up and down with excitement twenty years ago. It is now almost routine.

Also note that these planets are gas giants about 20AU away from the parent star. It's entirely possible that there are rocky planets closer to the star that might be getting occluded along with the star's light. Those may have water too.

SubiculumCode
I hadn't realized it was now at the level of routine. The article indicates "So far, astronomers have directly-imaged more than a dozen exoplanets."

20 AU...so like Neptune distance.

This is the kind of image that makes me want to fund super space telescope(s). Getting two space telescopes to work in conjunction like the Keks would be awesome for the resolving power.

hliyan
Precisely. Just imagine what we could accomplish with two JamesWebb-sized telescopes on opposite sides of Earth orbit!
bewo001
There was also this concept of a telescope beyond the Pluto orbit using the sun as gravitational lens..
craftyguy
What's almost equally amazing is the article actually includes the image it is discussing, rather than just some "artist's impression."
Dowwie
distance from earth = 179 * 5.9 trillion miles
[dead] EForEndeavour
First, converting light-years to a human-scale unit helps and impresses nobody.

Second, if you went to the trouble of looking up the number of miles in a light-year, at least commit to the task of impressing the reader with huge numbers and perform the multiplication: 1.06 quadrillion miles.

Third... Miles? Really?

choot
Detecting water is a new thing?

People have been using Drowsing for ages.

Galatic Drowsing.

hermitdev
Dowsing is the word you're looking for, not crossing.