OAS NOVEMBER 20013 ASTRONOMY EZINE VOL 2 | Page 40

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the first simultaneous spectra were obtained of four planets orbiting the young star HR8799, one hundred
and twenty-nine light years from us. These are giant worlds, not yet the terrestrial-analogs we hope for,
but they present a truly alien picture that may be a portent of what is to come.
Spread across this system from about 14 astronomical units from their star to 68 (a distance equivalent to
the very outer limits of our Kuiper belt) they look like almost
nothing we’ve seen before. Each has a unique spectral fingerprint, compounds like methane, acetylene, and carbon dioxide
swirling in their atmospheres. Only one of these planetary spectra bears a slight resemblance to that from the night side of Saturn, all the others have no solar system equivalent.
Glimpses like this are telling us that it’s a brave new galaxy out
there; and despite the inertia of science funding, and illconceived political priorities across much of the world, very real
progress is being made. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that astrobiology is starting to earn some long hoped for respect, and
that’s a good thing, because who hasn’t asked the very same
questions when gazing up at a night sky full of other suns?
Caleb Scharf
Director of Astrobiology, Columbia University, New York.
Author of the best selling book “Gravity’s Engines” and his new book “ The Copernicus Complex” out
Autumn 2014.

Image from:
http://phl.upr.edu/press-releases/fivepotentialhabitableexoplanetsnow

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