HD 189733b Exoplanet Animation

  • Released Thursday, June 28, 2012
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The exoplanet HD 189733b lies so near its star that it completes an orbit every 2.2 days. In late 2011, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found that the planet's upper atmosphere was streaming away at speeds exceeding 300,000 mph. Just before the Hubble observation, NASA's Swift detected the star blasting out a strong X-ray flare, one powerful enough to blow away part of the planet's atmosphere.

Artist's interpretation of what the exoplanet, flare, and atmosphere loss might have looked like.

Second still from animation

Second still from animation

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/exoplanet-atmosphere.html

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab

This page was originally published on Thursday, June 28, 2012.
This page was last updated on Thursday, November 2, 2023 at 10:08 AM EDT.

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Tapes

The media on this page originally appeared on the following tapes:
  • Evaporating Exoplanet (ID: 2012067)
    Thursday, June 28, 2012 at 4:00AM
    Produced by - Robert Crippen (NASA)