Want to see earth's future? Earlier today NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured the atmospheric structure of a planet (HD 209458b). Astronomers quickly noticed ultra-hot, dense hydrogen gas shooting into space like a kettle boiling over.

"The layer we studied is actually a transition zone where the temperature skyrockets from about 1,340 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 Kelvin) to about 25,540 degrees (15,000 Kelvin), which is hotter than the Sun," said Gilda Ballester of the University of Arizona in Tucson, leader of the research team. "With this detection we see the details of how a planet loses its atmosphere."

Researchers speculate that the planet, 20 times closer to its host than the earth is to the sun, will live on for at least another five billion years with gas escaping three times the rate of water flowing over Niagara Falls. Talk about universal pollution concerns.

Researchers liken this study to fingerprint analysis - will earth follow the same path eventually? Earlier Hubble transmissions exposed carbon, oxygen and sodium within the planet's atmosphere as well as a massive hydrogen comet-like tail. Further images by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured the infrared glow from the planet's hot atmosphere.

The new study is the culmination of observations made in 2003 with Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph by David Charbonneau of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

We Nomadiks really don't need anymore warning messages that it's time to stop kidding around when it comes to global warming. After all, we know hiking the glaciers just won't be as much fun when they turn to marshlands. If you weren't convinced before this, consider this a swift kick in the pants from the universe.

Julia Rosien,
Nomadik Editor