Spitzer Discovery Just One Small Step in NASA's Planet Quest Mission

NASA completed an important first step last week in the effort to locate Earthlike planets outside of our solar system. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA captured direct infrared light from two extrasolar planets for the first time in history. This feat is exceptional given that planets do not give off their own light, but reflect light from their sun. NASA has prepared a long-term research plan dubbed Planet Quest that involves several missions scheduled over the next fifteen years with the objective of finding Earthlike planets outside our solar system. The Planet Quest website contains links to multimedia features and videos including Planet Quest: The Search for Another Earth and PlanetQuest: The Movie. Thus far NASA has indirectly identified more than 140 extrasolar planets, typically by measuring changes in the position or brightness of the host star (see Four ways to find a planet). The high temperatures of the two newly discovered planets, however, make the possibility of either planet supporting life unlikely. Spitzer was not originally designed to detect planets, making this discovery a bonus for the mission.