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News and Views
Nature 456, 714-715 (11 December 2008) | doi:10.1038/456714a; Published online 10 December 2008
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Postdoctoral Position in Cystic Fibrosis / Pulmonary Research
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Astrophysics: Quest for a habitable world
Drake Deming1
Abstract
A neat technique, applied to the brightest transiting extrasolar planet known, identifies an indisputable signature of water vapour in the planet's atmosphere. The method might be used to probe a nearby habitable world.
When the first discovery1 of a planet orbiting a Sun-type star was announced in 1995, few could have imagined that we would stand where we do today: more than 300 planets outside our Solar System (exoplanets) are now known. The presence of most of these exoplanets has been inferred either through detecting their parent star's 'wobble', which is caused by the gravitational tug of the planet, or through measuring a dip in the host star's light as the planet passes in front of it (transits).
- Drake Deming is in the Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 693, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA.
Email: leo.d.deming@nasa.gov
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