Dramatic change spotted on a faraway planet [heic1209] 28 Jun
2012 Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have
seen dramatic changes in the upper atmosphere of a faraway
planet. Just after a violent flare on its parent star bathed it
in intense X-ray radiation, the planet's atmosphere gave off a
powerful burst of evaporation. The observations give a
tantalising glimpse of the changing climates and weather on
planets outside our Solar System. Artist's impression of
exoplanet HD 189733b as it passes in front of its parent star.
Credit: NASA, ESA, L. Calçada Astronomer Alain Lecavelier des
Etangs (CNRS-UPMC, France) and his team used Hubble to observe
the atmosphere of exoplanet HD 189733b  during two periods in
early 2010 and late 2011, as it was silhouetted against its
parent star . While backlit in this way, the planet's atmosphere
imprints its chemical signature on the starlight, allowing
astronomers to decode what is happening on scales that are too
tiny to image directly. The observations we