Hubble Telescope Discovers a Planet with Mysterious 'Hiccups' in its Evaporation Process
For the past few years, astronomers have been intrigued by the mysterious disappearance of a distant planet, known as GJ 3470b. Located about 200 light years away from Earth, GJ 3470b is a gas giant, similar to Jupiter, that has been rapidly evaporating. Now, a new study using data from the Hubble Space Telescope has provided further insight into this phenomenon, and uncovered some unexpected hiccups in the planet’s evaporation process.
The study, led by researchers from the Space Telescope Science Institute, revealed that GJ 3470b is evaporating much faster than expected. Furthermore, the team observed that the planet’s atmosphere is being depleted in a “stuttering” fashion, with occasional pauses in the evaporation process. It is still unclear what is causing these pauses, but the researchers suggest that it could be due to a series of short-term changes in the planet’s environment.
source: Phys.org