Published in Physics World, 28 May 2009
Scientists in the US have come up with a new method to search for oceans on “exoplanets” — planets outside our Solar System. The method, which involves studying how colours shift with an exoplanet’s rotation, could help in the quest for discovering extraterrestrial life.
There are several methods already used to spot water on exoplanets. One is spectroscopy, which can reveal the characteristic absorption wavelengths of water molecules and which has already been used successfully on giant planets. Others involve searching for the appearance of clouds or the glint of light shining off a reflective surface, although this latter technique has so far only been used for other liquids, such as methane on Saturn’s moon Titan. […]
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