Water Found in Far-Off Planet's Atmosphere

Astronomers have detected water in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system for the first time.

The finding, to be detailed in an upcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal, confirms previous theories that say water vapor should be present in the atmospheres of nearly all the known extrasolar planets.

Even "hot Jupiters," gaseous planets that orbit closer to their stars than Mercury to our Sun, are thought to have water.

"We know that water vapor exists in the atmospheres of one extrasolar planet, and there is good reason to believe that other extrasolar planets contain water vapor," said Travis Barman, an astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona who made the discovery.