Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2019 September 17

                 Water Vapor Discovered on Distant Exoplanet
        Illustration Credit: ESA, NASA, Hubble; Artist: M. Kornmesser

   Explanation: Where else might life exist? One of humanity's great
   outstanding questions, locating planets where extrasolar life might
   survive took a step forward recently with the discovery of a
   significant amount of water vapor in the atmosphere of distant
   exoplanet K2-18b. The planet and it parent star, K2-18, lie about 124
   light years away toward the constellation of the Lion (Leo). The
   exoplanet is significantly larger and more massive than our Earth, but
   orbits in the habitable zone of its home star. K2-18, although more red
   than our Sun, shines in K2-18b's sky with a brightness similar to the
   Sun in Earth's sky. The discovery was made in data from three space
   telescopes: Hubble, Spitzer, and Kepler, by noting the absorption of
   water-vapor colors when the planet moved in front of the star. The
   featured illustration imagines exoplanet K2-18b on the right, its
   parent red dwarf star K2-18 on the left, and an unconfirmed sister
   planet between them.

                      Tomorrow's picture: lightning up
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