Hubble Discovers an Evaporating Planet 25
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."
Quick ! (Score:1, Funny)
No suprise here (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:No suprise here (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:No suprise here (Score:2)
WRONG! (Score:5, Informative)
The point is that you can't form a large gas giant so close to a star, it must have formed a long distance out and then 'migrated' to its present position near the star. How that happened will keep astro theorists in grants for a long time
Also, the size of this gas giant has been noted to be much larger than theoretical models predict, suggesting it is being heated up by the proximity of the parent star - this 'boiling off' of the atmosphere confirms this interpretation.
Dr Fish
Re:No suprise here (Score:1)
We're next [?] (Score:3, Funny)
Gulp! Would someone please define "much lower" so I can sleep again?
Re:We're next [?] (Score:2)
What do you care? It's hydrogen (and other light species like helium) that are escaping at any significant rate. Unless you're breathing the stuff, you have nothing to worry about.
Re:We're next [?] (Score:3, Informative)
Yeah, hydrogen is important lol.
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Re:We're next [?] (Score:1)
When you look at the BIG picture, it makes the small crap we worry over each day seem insifnificant, no? So, the next time you get fired or someone does you wrong, take ease with the knowledge that one day a near earth object is going to slam into the earth and kill most all of us... if we humans don't nuke each other before. Cheer up!
dry planet? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:dry planet? (Score:1)
Please accept my apology for the lack of mod-points. Have this pseudo-Karma, instead.
rejoinder (Score:2)
core? (Score:2)
(and if they are, what are the bets the space race suddenly hots up again...
diamond core (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:diamond core (Score:2)
da Beers, here comes the competition!
Hide it?? (Score:3, Funny)
+1 Funny (Score:1)
Ok, so a two mile wide diamond might be a bit tricky to hide...
Re:diamond core (Score:3, Informative)
Diamonds are very useful in industry. Just think - we could all have diamond tipped power tools, so they would be useful, and worth buying whatever. People buy less valuable rocks, don't they.
Re:diamond core (Score:2, Informative)
The entire concept of rare and valuable diamonds is a result of the most successful advertising/social engineering campaign ever devised; even now DeBeers and other diamond companies resrict the supply while telling you how rare diamonds are--they've been profiting from this strategy for some 70-80 years now, and they aren't about to stop now...
The only difference wit
duplicate (Score:1, Informative)
Spaceballs (Score:1)