Artist's impression of gas streaming from GJ 3470b
This artist's impression shows a giant cloud of hydrogen streaming off a warm, Neptune-sized planet just 97 light-years from Earth. The exoplanet is tiny compared to its star, a red dwarf named GJ 3470. The star's intense radiation is heating the hydrogen in the planet's upper atmosphere to a point where it escapes into space. The alien world is losing hydrogen at a rate 100 times faster than a previously observed warm Neptune whose atmosphere is also evaporating away.
Links:
Credit:
NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
NASA/ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
