Hot Hydrogen Discovery Graphics

Image Credit: Loretta McKibben and Gilda E. Ballester, LPL/UA

The image above illustrates the hot-Jupiter planet and star as it might be seen in violet wavelengths of light where the hot hydrogen layers of the planet would be most observable. The star appears as a large purple sphere in violet light. Any active stellar spots would appear as discrete white markings at these wavelengths, which are not shown.

The planet (HD 209458b) is shown as a black disk since it is transiting in front of the disk of the star and blocking its light. The absorbing layer of "hot" hydrogen atoms appears as a dark ring around the planet. The large, diffuse extended atmosphere of the bulk of the hydrogen atoms is shown around the planet in white. It looks like the coma of a comet with a comet-like tail which is trailing the planet in its orbit around the star.

Various higher-resolution formats of this graphic are available for the news media and other interested persons below:

• Medium-resolution JPEG format, suitable for the web
  
  
• Low-resolution JPEG thumbnail image
  
  
• High-resolution TIFF format
  
  
• Adobe PDF format
  
  
• Encapsulated postscript thumbnail image
  
  
• Encapsulated postscript image, full-sized
  
  

• Annotated image (Large JPEG, 141KB)
  
  
• Annotated image (Medium JPEG, 34KB)
  
  
• Annotated image (Small JPEG, 19KB)
  
  
• Annotated image (High-res TIFF, 1.1 MB)
  
  

If other formats are needed of this image, or any other information is required for the news media, please contact Dr. Gilda Ballester by email or telephone.