SETI public: Fw: TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: HUBBLE DISCOVERS AN EVAPORATING PLANET (STScI-PR03-08

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Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 1:08 PM
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Subject: TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: HUBBLE DISCOVERS AN EVAPORATING PLANET (STScI-PR03-08)

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 2:00 pm (EST)/20:00 (CET) March 12, 2003

CONTACT:
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218
(Phone: 410/338-4514; E-mail: villard_at_stsci.edu)

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Center, Garching, Germany
(Phone: 011/49-89-3200-6306; E-mail: lars_at_eso.org)

Alfred Vidal-Madjar
Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP/CNRS), Paris, France
(Phone: 011/33-1-44-32-80-73; E-mail: alfred_at_iap.fr)

Gilda Ballester
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
(Phone: 520/621-4073; E-mail: gilda_at_vega.lpl.arizona.edu)

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR03-08

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: HUBBLE DISCOVERS AN EVAPORATING PLANET

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have observed
for the first time the atmosphere of a planet beyond our solar
system evaporating into space. Most of the planet may eventually
disappear, leaving only a dense core. The evaporating planet is
a member of a type of planet called a "hot Jupiter," a giant
gaseous planet that orbits very closely around its parent star,
drawn to it like a moth to a flame. The scorched planet, called
HD 209458b, orbits only 4 million miles (7 million kilometers)
from its yellow, Sun-like star. The planet circles the parent
star in a tight 3.5-day orbit. The Hubble observations reveal
a hot and bloated hydrogen atmosphere, which is evaporating off
the planet. This huge envelope of hydrogen resembles a comet
with a tail trailing behind the planet.

An international team of astronomers, led by Alfred Vidal-Madjar
of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, France, is
reporting this discovery in the March 13 NATURE Magazine.

To see and read more, please click on
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/2003/08
http://hubble.esa.int

-end-

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• Previous message: LARRY KLAES: "SETI public: European astronomers observe first evaporating planet"

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