{"id":25230,"date":"2010-07-18T08:10:23","date_gmt":"2010-07-18T08:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/osiris-the-scorched-exoplanet-with-a-comet-like-tail-80beats\/"},"modified":"2010-07-18T08:10:23","modified_gmt":"2010-07-18T08:10:23","slug":"osiris-the-scorched-exoplanet-with-a-comet-like-tail-80beats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/astronomy\/osiris-the-scorched-exoplanet-with-a-comet-like-tail-80beats.php","title":{"rendered":"Osiris: The Scorched Exoplanet With a Comet-Like Tail | 80beats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OsirisCometTail\"We know about exoplanet HD 209458b, nicknamed “Osiris.” We know it’s 153 light years away, that it has water in its atmosphere<\/a>, and that it orbits its star in three and a half days at a distance 100 times closer than Jupiter is to the sun. But we didn’t know this for sure until now: This planet has a tail.<\/p>

In a study<\/a> in The Astrophysical Journal<\/em>, a research team says Osiris, a gas giant, orbits so close that its star is blasting away its atmosphere. As the planet progresses on its blazing hot and hasty revolutions, a tail like that of a comet follows behind it. The Hubble Space Telescope<\/a>’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph caught the effect as Osiris made repeated transits in front of its star.<\/p>

The instrument detected the heavy elements carbon and silicon in the planet’s super-hot 2,000 degrees F (1,100 C or so) atmosphere. This detection revealed the parent star is heating the entire atmosphere, dredging up the heavier elements and allowing them to escape the planet.<\/p>

Jeffrey Linsky, of the University of Colorado, who led the study, said: “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” [Christian Science Monitor<\/a>].<\/p>

<\/span>The planet may be losing material to that tail at a rate of 10,000 tons per second. But fear not for brave Osiris. Even at that rate, hot Jupiters don’t disappear overnight.<\/p>

“It will take about a trillion years for the planet to evaporate,” Linsky said [Space.com<\/a>].<\/p>

\"Osiris2\"New exoplanets<\/a> catch our attention all the time, especially with the Kepler mission<\/a> now out in space and on the hunt. But Osiris is one of the best-studied alien worlds.<\/p>

Scientists first spotted it in 1999. Since then, studies have shown it holds not only water vapor<\/a> in its atmosphere, but also compounds connected to life<\/a>, like methane and carbon dioxide (though Osiris is probably a little toasty for life as we know it). And just last month, astronomers found fierce storms raging<\/a> on Osiris with wind speeds in excess of 3,000 miles per hour—making the strongest winds known in our own solar system look meek by comparison.<\/p>

If you like these artist’s impressions of this exoplanet, check out an astronomer’s thoughts<\/a> on such creative renderings.<\/p>

Follow DISCOVER on Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>

Related Content:
80beats: Weather Report from an Exoplanet Shows Winds of 4,300 MPH<\/a>
80beats: Astronomers Find Bevy of Exoplanets; Won’t Discuss Most Interesting Ones<\/a>
80beats: First Ever Weather Report From an Exoplanet: Highs of 2240 Degrees<\/a>
Visual Science: Astronomer Mike Brown on Arty Exoplanets<\/a><\/p>

Image: G. Bacon, NASA\/ESA<\/em><\/p>

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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We know about exoplanet HD 209458b, nicknamed “Osiris.” We know it’s 153 light years away, that it has water in its atmosphere, and that it orbits its star in three and a half days at a distance 100 times closer … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}