Oxygen and carbon discovered in extrasolar planet atmosphere "blow-off" [artist's impression]
This artist's impression shows an extended ellipsoidal envelope - the shape of a rugby-ball - of oxygen and carbon discovered around the well-known extrasolar planet HD 209458b.
An international team of astronomers led by Alfred Vidal-Madjar (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, France) observed the first signs of oxygen and carbon in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our Solar System for the first time using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
The atoms of carbon and oxygen are swept up from the lower atmosphere with the flow of escaping atmospheric atomic hydrogen - like dust in a supersonic whirlwind - in a process called atmospheric "blow off".
Credit:European Space Agency and Alfred Vidal-Madjar (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, France)
About the Image
Id: | heic0403a |
Type: | Artwork |
Release date: | 2 February 2004, 15:00 |
Related releases: | heic0403 |
Size: | 2500 x 2024 px |
About the Object
Name: | HD 209458b, Osiris |
Type: | Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Planetary System |
Distance: | 150 light years |
Category: | Exoplanets |