Scorched Alien Planet Has a Comet Tail (153 light-years from Earth)

Space.com ^ | 7/15/10 | Clara Moskowitz

[NormsRevenge]

A scorched alien planet is flying so close to its parent star that its atmosphere is being swept off it in a glowing tail like some sort of giant comet, NASA announced Thursday.

The existence of the planet and its strange tail, which was suggested in previous studies, was confirmed recently by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. These new observations of the gas giant planet, called HD 209458b, suggest strong winds from its nearby star are blowing the atmosphere off the scorched world and shaping it into a comet-like tail.

"Since 2003 scientists have theorized the lost mass is being pushed back into a tail, and they have even calculated what it looks like," said astronomer Jeffrey Linsky of the University of Colorado in Boulder, leader of the study. "We think we have the best observational evidence to support that theory. We have measured gas coming off the planet at specific speeds, some coming toward Earth. The most likely interpretation is that we have measured the velocity of material in a tail."

This planet orbits its star from a distance of about 4 million miles (7 million km) – 100 times closer than Jupiter circles the sun ..

At such close quarters with its star, HD 209458b's atmosphere is a scorching 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,093 Celsius). Past studies have suggested that it is losing about 10,000 tons of gas every second as material is blown off by its parent star. Eventually, it might be stripped entirely of its gas envelope, leaving behind a liquid core of lava. Even so, it will be a long while before the planet is completely destroyed.

"It will take about a trillion years for the planet to evaporate," Linsky said.

[NormsRevenge]

Artist's view of extrasolar planet HD 209458b. Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the existence of a baked object that could be called a "cometary planet." The gas giant planet, named HD 209458b, is orbiting so close to its star that its heated atmosphere is escaping into space. Observations taken with Hubble's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) suggest powerful stellar winds are sweeping the cast-off atmospheric material behind the scorched planet and shaping it into a comet-like tail. Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

[epluribus_2]

orbits a star, has a tail. Why is it not a comet?

[allmendream]

Size and regularity of its orbit I suppose.

But really, a thing is what it is; it isn't what we decide to call it.

Pluto is either a planet or an ‘extra solar body’ depending upon who you ask; but either way it is the same object, no matter sounds and symbols human beings decide to associate it with or categorize it as.

[kbennkc]

[NormsRevenge]

Why is it not a comet?

—

It’s too big is my guess , the article calls it a big gas planet .. the effect of a planet getting blow dried is pretty intense.. we should send a probe..

[NormsRevenge]

It’s been under observation for years..

this from 2004

Dying Planet Leaks Carbon-Oxygen
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/newworlds/Osiris_leaks.html

# FACTS ABOUT HD 209458b Diameter: 1.3 times that of Jupiter.
# Mass: 0.7 Jupiter masses, 220 Earth masses.
# Orbit: One-eighth the size of Mercury’s orbit around the Sun (7 million kilometers). 3.5 days.
# Belongs to a type of extrasolar planet known as ‘hot Jupiters’ - Giant, gaseous planets in low orbits.
# First confirmed transiting extrasolar planet.
# Transit: Every 3.5 days, 3 hours in duration. Eclipses 1.5% of the face of the parent star.
# Surface temperature: About 1,000 degrees Celsius.

THE ATMOSPHERE
# Complex: sodium in the lower atmosphere, evaporating hydrogen detected in upper atmosphere, oxygen and carbon also in the upper atmosphere.
# Extended: During the eclipses the upper atmosphere covers 15% of the face of the parent star.
# What is causing the atmosphere to escape? The planet’s outer atmosphere is extended and heated so much by the nearby star that it starts to escape the planet’s gravity. Hydrogen, carbon and oxygen boil off in the planet’s upper atmosphere under the searing heat of the star.
# Astronomers estimate the amount of hydrogen gas escaping HD 209458b to be at least 10,000 tonnes per second.
# Hydrogen tail is 200,000 kilometers long.
# Evaporation mechanism so tremendous that a whole new class of extrasolar planets, the chthonian planets - the cores of evaporated gas giants, is proposed.

[al baby]

Ajax

[Trueblackman]

Well if none of you are not going to say it, I will———We are DOOMED!!!

[centurion316]

If you want to survive in this cruel universe, you have to be born on the right planet. Those born on the wrong planet will, of course, be eligible for reparations and preferential treatment by the Obama Administration and will be registered to vote.

[SunkenCiv]

Thank you NormsRevenge!

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks NormsRevenge! If I weren't keen on getting my big ass out of the house for a change, instead of spending the entire summer on FR, I'd post my archival stuff on the detected tails of our Moon, of the Earth itself, of Venus...

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[NonValueAdded]

proto-Mercury

[Fred Nerks]

Planet’s Tail of the Unexpected, New Scientist

One of our neighbouring planets can still pack a few surprises, it seems. Using satellite data, an international team of researchers has found that Venus sports a giant, ion-packed tail that stretches almost far enough to tickle the Earth when the two planets are in line with the Sun.

SOURCE

[KoRn]

I never realized Venus was that far away. It appears to be so ‘close’ to us when you see it in the sky.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Does NOT sound like a nice place to visit!