"The spectral resolution and coverage we used will be close to optimal for Earth-like planets," Drake Deming, the spacecraft's deputy principal scientist, wrote in an email to Discovery News. Follow-up investigations to assess the chemical makeup of a target planet's atmosphere and its surface composition would be needed before any definitive claim could be made that an alien planet has oceans. "There's going to be a lot of skeptics if you go and claim you found water on an extrasolar planet," Cowan said. Scientists plan to use Deep Impact to get some polar views of Earth before the spacecraft heads out for its comet rendezvous. "We imaged the Earth from above the north pole in March, and we are looking forward to a south pole view in September," said Deming. Cowan's results will be published in the August issue of the Astrophysical Journal. Related Links: Slide Show: Top 10 Extrasolar Planets |
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