“This would be the first time that we can directly show through an atmospheric detection, that these planets with water-rich atmospheres can actually exist around other stars…This is an important step toward determining the prevalence and diversity of atmospheres on rocky planets.”
–Statement by Björn Benneke of the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets at Université de Montréal. He was referring to the Hubble space telescope’s detection of water vapor in the atmosphere of exoplanet GJ 9827d. The exoplanet is about twice the Earth’s diameter and approximately 97 light-years from Earth. You can read more about the Hubble discovery here.
Our Awesome Universe 