Hubble finds organic molecules on an exoplanet

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made the first detection ever of an organic molecule in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. This breakthrough is an important step in eventually identifying signs of life on a planet outside our Solar System.
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Although methane has been detected on most of the planets in our Solar System, this is the first time any organic molecule has been detected on a world orbiting another star.

Though the star-hugger planet is too hot for life as we know it, “this observation is proof that spectroscopy can eventually be done on a cooler and potentially habitable Earth-sized planet orbiting a dimmer red dwarf-type star�, Swain said. The ultimate goal of studies like these is to identify prebiotic molecules in the atmospheres of planets in the “habitable zones� around other stars, where temperatures are right for water to remain liquid rather than freeze or evaporate away.

“These measurements are an important step to our ultimate goal of determining the conditions, such as temperature, pressure, winds, clouds, etc., and the chemistry on planets where life could exist.