Fact Sheet
Vanishing Planet
The atmosphere of a giant planet orbiting the star HD 209458 is being blasted into space by the star's intense radiation, according to scientists who have studied the system with Hubble Space Telescope. The planet, which probably resembles Jupiter, orbits just four million miles above the star's surface -- about five percent of the distance from Earth to the Sun. Eventually, most of the planet may be blasted away, with only a dense core left behind. In this illustration, the vaporizing atmosphere streams into space like the tail of a comet. [ESA, Alfred Vidal-Madjar, NASA]
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