Oxygen, carbon gases found around planet

PARIS, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Astronomers based in France announced Monday they have found oxygen and carbon in the atmosphere of a well-known, distant planet.

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the scientists detected the gases in the atmosphere of the planet HD 209458b.

The gases surround the planet in an elliptical shape rather than a sphere, and are swept from the lower atmosphere with the escape of atmospheric atomic hydrogen, the scientists said.

The planet, dubbed "Osiris," was the first extra-solar planet known to have an evaporating hydrogen atmosphere. It now becomes the first to have an atmosphere containing oxygen and carbon, both necessary for life -- although its surface temperature is about 1,000 Celsius.