The Return of the Comet-like Exoplanet
Astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, also members of the PlanetS National Centre of Competence in Research, have been working on a joint project with the universities of Berne, Warwick, Grenoble Alpes and the Paris Institute of Astrophysics.
Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, and G. Bacon
Exoplanet GJ 436b is similar in size to Neptune (i.e. about four times larger than the Earth). Seen through ultraviolet (UV) glasses, it reveals a huge, Rapunzel-like hair made of gas. This phenomenon, detected in 2015 by astronomers from UNIGE’s Faculty of Sciences Observatory, could be due to the planet proximity to its host star: it takes the planet no more than three days to circle around it.
The team headed by Baptiste Lavie, a PlanetS PhD student at UNIGE, directed Hubble at GJ 436b afresh. The findings backed up the researchers’ predictions in every respect: “I was getting grey hair from analysing the new observations,” says Lavie. “So it was hugely satisfying to see that the panache of hydrogen escaping from the planet was really there, in line with the predictions, because now we understand how it is formed.”
This animation shows an artistic impression of the transit of Gliese 436b in front of its host star. The planet itself is surrounded by a large halo and is followed by a long comet-like tail. The diagram at the bottom shows the measured brightness of the star as the planet and the cloud of hydrogen it is embedded into moves between the observing astronomers on Earth and the star.
Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Martin Kornmesser (ESA/Hubble)
Solving the mystery of this rare phenomenon means the researchers are now in a position to understand how it affects other exoplanets, some receiving even more irradiation than GJ 436b. “We’re expecting some more surprises,” says Lavie with a smile.
PlanetS is a National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) backed by the Swiss National Fund for Scientific Research.
FOUR ACES (Future of Upper Atmospheric Characterisation of Exoplanets with Spectroscopy) is a European project funded by the European Research Council’s Consolidator grant (ERC Grant No. 724427).
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August 31, 2017
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