This image shows a planet being stripped by host star’s heat. Credit: Peter Devine
Astrophysicists at the Uni of Birmingham have used data from the NASA Kepler space telescope to discover a class of extrasolar planets whose atmospheres have been stripped away by their host stars. Planets with gaseous atmospheres that lie close to their host stars are bombarded by a torrent of high-energy radiation. Due to their proximity to the star the ‘envelopes’ have been blown away by intense radiation. This violent ‘stripping’ occurs in planets that are made up of a rocky core with a gaseous outer layer.
The scientists used asteroseismology to characterize the stars and their planets to levels of accuracy not achieved before for these systems...
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