NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Spitzer Media Telecon: Feb. 21, 2007, 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST)

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured for the first time enough light from planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, to identify signatures of molecules in their atmospheres.
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Call in number: 1-800-593-1179 | International toll number: 210 795-9369
Passcode: Spitzer

An instant replay of the telecon is available 24 hours a day through Feb. 28th:
Call In: 866-380-4641
International toll number: 203 639-0340

Participants: + Bios page
L. Jeremy Richardson, NASA Postdoctoral Fellow, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Carl Grillmair, research astronomer, NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.
Mark Swain, research scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Alan Boss, staff research astronomer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

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Images


1. Hot, Dry and Cloudy
Play animation: + Browse resolution (3Mb) | + Full resolution (22Mb)
This artist's concept shows a cloudy Jupiter-like planet that orbits very close to its fiery hot star.
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+ High-resolution TIFF (5Mb)

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2. Distant Planet Flaunts its Light
Play animation: + Browse resolution (4Mb) | + Full resolution (29Mb)
This artist's animation shows a close-up view of a distant giant planet passing behind its star as a regular part of its orbit. By studying "secondary eclipses" like this in infrared light, astronomers can capture and study the direct light of known extrasolar planets.

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3. How to Pluck a Spectrum From a Planet
This diagram illustrates how astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope can capture the elusive spectra of hot-Jupiter planets.
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+ High-resolution TIFF (21Mb)

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4. Cracking the Code of Faraway Worlds
This infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope -- called a spectrum -- tells astronomers that a distant gas planet, a so-called "hot Jupiter" called HD 209458b, might be smothered with high clouds. It is one of the first spectra of an alien world.
+ Full caption
+ High-resolution TIFF (1Mb)

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5. Cracking the Code of Faraway Worlds
This infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope -- called a spectrum -- tells astronomers that a distant gas planet, a so-called "hot Jupiter" called HD 209458b, might be smothered with high clouds. It is one of the first spectra of an alien world.
+ Full caption
+ High-resolution TIFF (1Mb)

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6. Cracking the Code of Faraway Worlds
This infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope -- called a spectrum -- tells astronomers that a distant gas planet, a so-called "hot Jupiter" called HD 189733b, might be smothered with high clouds. It is one of the first spectra of an alien world.
+ Full caption
+ High-resolution TIFF (815Kb)