Universe ID: 30096

Star Blasts Planet with X-rays

Released on October 17, 2013

Astronomers have found hundreds of planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. New Chandra observations of one planet reveals a fairly dire situation. The Chandra data provide evidence that the star, known as CoRoT-2a, is blasting the extremely close planet with powerful X-rays. These X-rays are a hundred thousand times more intense than those that the Earth receives from the Sun. Astronomers estimate that this high-energy radiation is evaporating about 5 million tons of matter every second from the planet. Luckily, Earth is not in this same situation.

Credits

Marit Jentoft-Nilsen: Technical Support

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30096

Mission:
Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Hyperwall
DLESE >> Narrated
NASA Science >> Universe
SVS >> Chandra