Just for the record, the original paper where Swain announced the detection of H2O, CO and CO2 is
here.
Dated Dec 10, 2008)...
Quote:
We have measured the dayside spectrum of HD 189733b between 1.5 and 2.5 μm using the NICMOS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. The emergent spectrum contains significant modulation, which we attribute to the presence of molecular bands seen in absorption. We find that water (H2O), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2) are needed to explain the observations, and we are able to estimate the mixing ratios for these molecules.
…
Using a radiative transfer model, we determine that the molecules H2O, CO and CO2 are likely present on the dayside of HD 189733b, and we are able to estimate abundances for these species.
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Note that this paper was submitted on 10th Dec 2008. It seems that there was a lot of modelling done before making the announcement.
He has subsequently defended it and re-inforced his original findings using the ground based measurements in the 1.9– 4.2 μm region (as my last two posts).
A case where initial theoretical models have been vindicated and where rigorous peer-review challenges have improved the credibility. Good stuff !!
Cheers