Carbon dioxide has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet 63 light-years away by astronomers who were testing ways of searching for extraterrestrial life. Of course, the CO2 does not come from plants or automobiles, because the planet, HD 189733b, is too large (about the mass of Jupiter) and too hot for any possibility of life there. The findings of this project will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Furthermore, astronomers also reported that they found water vapor and methane swirling around HD 189733b. As seen from Earth, HD 189733b passes directly in front of and behind its parent star as it orbits. The giant gas planet has its surface largely composed of hydrogen and helium. It orbits a star in the constellation Vulpecula and it lies in the same region with the stars named Deneb, Vega and Altair shine.

Mark Swain, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and his team used the Hubble Space Telescope to compare the near-infrared light from the star alone with the combined light from both. The difference between the two spectrums revealed that the light emitted from the planet and the mix of colors in the planet's light contained the telltale signs of carbon dioxide at concentrations of between one part per million and one part per 10 million. Earth has about 385 parts per million. It seems that the intense ultraviolet radiation from the star, just three million miles away, is causing chemical reactions in order to produce the carbon dioxide.

In another research, conducted by astronomers Carl J. Grillmair of the California Institute of Technology and present in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature, it was reported that the team lead by Grillmair also found water around the same planet, using a technique more precise than the one used in earlier research. They used the Spitzer Space Telescope and this confirmed what most of the theoreticians suspected: two of the most common elements in the universe, hydrogen and oxygen, readily combine into water.

However, even if this planet can't possibly support life, this discovery has lead many to believe that we may soon discover extraterrestrial life. The finding of carbon dioxide is so important due to the fact that it is one of the byproducts of life. There is a possibility that the planet supports life forms we can't find on Earth, but NASA also hopes to find another planet with life forms like ours in other far-away solar systems. It's essential to find water on rocky planets, not too close to the sun or not too far away from it. Astronomers really think they're on to something and it remains to be seen if they'll find extraterrestrial life.