Καινοτομία

Now that scientists have identified a very high number of exoplanets, the next step — and probably the most exciting one — will consist in shortlisting actual Earth-like planets. Doing this requires an enormous quantity of spectroscopic data which the EXOMOL project just so happens to have compiled in a single database.

Completed in April 2016, EXOMOL (ExoMol: molecular line lists for exoplanet atmospheres) used a mixture of first principles and empirically-tuned quantum mechanical methods to provide comprehensive transition line lists for molecules found in hot atmospheres.