April fool - Astrophysicists detect whiskey in the atmosphere of a distant planet

No. 4.3 - 01.04.2024

Research into extrasolar planets, known as exoplanets, is being conducted at the University of Göttingen. This search is also linked to the hope of finding some with life one day. A research team from the University of Göttingen and the University of St Andrews in Scotland has now succeeded in detecting whiskey in the atmosphere of the distant planet known as "GJ1132b". The results were published today (1 April 2024).

When an exoplanet covers its own star, some of the light from the star passes through the planet's atmosphere before it reaches us. Molecules in this atmosphere absorb some of the light at very specific wavelengths. The components of the atmosphere can be read from these wavelengths. The scientists used laboratory measurements to determine the absorption pattern of whiskey and were then able to detect these "fingerprints" in observations of GJ1132b with the Hubble Space Telescope.

As whiskey has so far only been detected on Earth, the authors speculate that there must be a technical civilisation on GJ1132b that produces an almost unimaginable amount of whiskey. They also hypothesise that this evidence explains the so-called "Fermi Paradox": despite the large number of planets in our galaxy, there are no signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life. "The inhabitants of GJ1132b must suffer so much from their whiskey consumption that they are unable to transmit radio signals much less build UFOs," explains Göttingen astrophysicist Dr Frederic V. Hessman.

"I congratulate the research team on this ground-breaking success in detecting alcohol on the planet GJ1132b," says University President Prof Dr Metin Tolan. "Nevertheless, I do not necessarily agree with the conclusion that this also indicates the existence of intelligent life on this planet."

Article:

astro.physik.uni-goettingen.de

Contact:

Dr Frederic V. Hessman
University of Göttingen
Institute for Astrophysics and Geophysics
Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen
fhessma@uni-goettingen.de