07-10-2015, 07:53 PM
There's some info missing here. I'm not entirely sure how they know the composition of the exoplanets other than they must be rocky. Guess I'll have to read the actual paper (which is never a bad thing to do).
Many years ago a group I worked for at The University of Nottingham published a paper that was a bit of a game changer for the field we were working in. The source of spectral features called diffuse interstellar bands had been a mystery for 60 years then, and there were arguments about whether they were due to molecules in the gas-phase or dust grains. Our work was fairly conclusive in showing they were gas-phase molecules, and our understanding of the interstellar medium (i.e., the space between stars) would be better understood.
We wrote a press release that had to go through the university's PR dept. When it came back, we learned that we had discovered a star that had been missing for 60 years. That was a surprise and shows how science is rarely reported correctly, even in press releases.
In case you're curious, the paper is here:
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/....283L.105K
I was the lead author, but that abstract still makes my head hurt...
Many years ago a group I worked for at The University of Nottingham published a paper that was a bit of a game changer for the field we were working in. The source of spectral features called diffuse interstellar bands had been a mystery for 60 years then, and there were arguments about whether they were due to molecules in the gas-phase or dust grains. Our work was fairly conclusive in showing they were gas-phase molecules, and our understanding of the interstellar medium (i.e., the space between stars) would be better understood.
We wrote a press release that had to go through the university's PR dept. When it came back, we learned that we had discovered a star that had been missing for 60 years. That was a surprise and shows how science is rarely reported correctly, even in press releases.
In case you're curious, the paper is here:
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/....283L.105K
I was the lead author, but that abstract still makes my head hurt...