Newly discovered... The first detection of sodium has been found in an extrasolar system planet. Sodium was selected for its ease of finding, probability of existing in atmoshperes, and limited telescope time. To read more go to: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/extrasolar_atmosphere_011127-1.html
<<...shows that planets outside our solar system do in fact use their gravity to trap gases and possibly other substances to form an atmosphere...>> You'd think a science writer would know to avoid anthropomorphic terms, and you'd think their editor(s) would have called them on it.
Prehaps you should volunteer your services... After all it has a world veiwer base and as such should fit certain standards.
<<...volunteer your services...>> Not. They're a for-profit concern. Show me the contract. I only give myself away to not-for-profits, and the truly needy.
Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Extra-Solar Planetary Atmosphere Detected Illustration Credit: Greg Bacon (STScI/AVL) Explanation: By directly detecting the atmosphere of a planet outside our Solar System, humanity has taken another small step toward finding extraterrestrial life. The unexpected detection by David Charbonneau (Caltech) and associates came from Hubble Space Telescope observations of Sun-like star HD 209458. As an orbiting planet crossed between that star and the Earth, sodium in the planet's atmosphere absorbed starlight at very specific colors. The planet, originally discovered two years ago, has about 70 percent the mass of Jupiter but orbits very close in. A long-term goal of this type of research is the detection of planetary biomarkers that would indicate life, such as oxygen, water, or methane.
Hi Wet1, here's something Geraint posted over at SSSF. When the planet is in front of the star, some of the light from that star passes through the atmosphere of the planet. The chemicals in the atmosphere leave an absorption signature on the spectrum. In this case, it was the lines of sodium (see figure below). <A HREF="http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/38/" target=new><FONT COLOR=blue size=+1> Discovery press release</FONT></A> <img src="http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2001/38/content/i0138aw.jpg">
