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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Distant star ingest a planet the size of Jupiter


Sized planet about 1.4 times larger than Jupiter is captivated by its own star for a solid veil of gas, according to new observations made ​​space telescope "Hubble".

The planet WASP-b is a gas giant, spinning dangerously close to its parent star so that its evaporation created a dense cloud of gas that does not pass light. 


This cloud is rich in magnesium, which makes it difficult to follow in the near-UV region of the spectrum, and makes the system almost invisible in the optical range.

A new study by scientists and members of the British consortium Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) in cooperation with specialist’s spectrograph Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, installed on the "Hubble", found that magnesium-rich cloud blocked the light, while the star absorbed the remnants of the giant planet. Astronomers say it is a "sneak eating" is observed for the first time.

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