This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
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EMBARGOED UNTIL: 2:00 pm (EST)/20:00 (CET) March 12, 2003

CONTACT:
Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218
(Phone: 410/338-4514; E-mail: villard{at}stsci.edu)

Lars Lindberg Christensen
Hubble European Space Agency Information Center, Garching, Germany
(Phone: 011/49-89-3200-6306; E-mail: lars{at}eso.org)

Alfred Vidal-Madjar
Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP/CNRS), Paris, France
(Phone: 011/33-1-44-32-80-73; E-mail: alfred{at}iap.fr)

Gilda Ballester
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
(Phone: 520/621-4073; E-mail: gilda{at}vega.lpl.arizona.edu)

PRESS RELEASE NO.: STScI-PR03-08

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: HUBBLE DISCOVERS AN EVAPORATING PLANET
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Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have observed for the 
first time the atmosphere of a planet beyond our solar system 
evaporating into space. Most of the planet may eventually disappear, 
leaving only a dense core. The evaporating planet is a member of a 
type of planet called a "hot Jupiter," a giant gaseous planet that 
orbits very closely around its parent star, drawn to it like a moth to 
a flame. The scorched planet, called HD 209458b, orbits only 4 million 
miles (7 million kilometers) from its yellow, Sun-like star. The 
planet circles the parent star in a tight 3.5-day orbit. The Hubble 
observations reveal a hot and bloated hydrogen atmosphere, which is 
evaporating off the planet. This huge envelope of hydrogen resembles a 
comet with a tail trailing behind the planet.

An international team of astronomers, led by Alfred Vidal-Madjar of 
the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, France, is reporting this 
discovery in the March 13 NATURE Magazine.

To see and read more, please click on
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/2003/08
http://hubble.esa.int

-end-

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA),
for NASA, under contract with the Goddard Space Flight Center, 
Greenbelt, MD. The Hubble Space Telescope project is an international 
cooperation between ESA and NASA.

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