Exoplanet’s chemical fingerprint suggest a distant birthplace

New modelling by an international team of scientists has analysed the first transiting exoplanet ever discovered and found six different chemicals in its atmosphere. The astronomers were able to detect hydrogen cyanide, methane, ammonia, acetylene, carbon monoxide and small amounts of water in the atmosphere of the planet, known as HD 209458b and nicknamed Osiris. The findings suggest that its atmosphere contains more carbon than oxygen, which indicates that its birthplace was far from the star it orbits.