Planets and Moons  ID: 11686

Eroding Exoplanet

Story by Francis Reddy Released on November 27, 2014
Download Options
A stellar flare blasts away part of a planet's atmosphere.
Planet HD 189733b orbits a star about 63 light-years away. The world is a gas giant similar to Jupiter, but about 14 percent larger and more massive. In 2010, researchers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope watched HD 189733b as it moved in front of its host star. Sixteen months later they looked again, but this time something was different—at least 1,000 tons of gas were leaving the planet's atmosphere every second. The question was: Why? Just hours earlier, NASA’s Swift satellite saw the planet's star unleash a powerful eruption known as a stellar flare. Because the planet is so big and orbits its star in close proximity, the blast had an outsized effect, sending streams of atoms racing away from its atmosphere at speeds greater than 300,000 mph. Watch the video to learn more.
Download Options
Learn more about HD 189733b’s escaping atmosphere in this video.
Download Options
HD 189733b circles its star at a distance of only 3 million miles, or about 30 times closer than Earth's distance from the sun.
Download Options
In September 2011, a stellar flare erupted from HD 189733b’s star and blew away some of the planet’s gas.
Download Options
The flare event was detected by NASA’s Swift satellite.
 

Related Story

Hubble, Swift Detect First-ever Changes in an Exoplanet Atmosphere

For More Information

NASA.gov

Story Credits

Visualizers/Animators:
Michael Lentz (USRA)
Scott Wiessinger (USRA)

Video Editor:
Scott Wiessinger (USRA)

Narrator:
Erin McKinley (OSU)

Producer:
Scott Wiessinger (USRA)

Lead Writer:
Francis Reddy (Syneren Technologies)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11686

Keywords:
SVS >> Astrophysics
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons