Hubble Discovers an Evaporating Planet

Licensed2Hack writes "For the first time, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have observed the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet evaporating off into space. Much of the planet may eventually disappear, leaving only a dense core. The planet is a type of extrasolar planet known as a "hot Jupiter." Spaceflightnow and Nature have the details."

Comments

No suprise here

[Tuxinatorium]

What's all the fuss about? That's what you'd expect when a planet is too close and the star reaches the red giant phase.

Re:No suprise here

[Idarubicin]

What's all the fuss about? That's what you'd expect when a planet is too close and the star reaches the red giant phase.

On the other hand, it's the first time we've actually been able to observe the phenomenon, which makes it interesting in and of itself. It wasn't so long ago that any evidence of any extrasolar planet was big news, just because nobody had been able to find them before.

It's also a fairly rare event, at least within the volume of space we can readily observe. It's like asking, "What's all the fuss about? A supernova is just what you'd expect when a high-mass star collapses." Yes, it's the expected result, but there is still a good bit of information we can extract that we wouldn't otherwise have access too. It's nice to be able to confirm what happens to planetary systems when stars enter a red giant phase.