How Hubble Caught a Star 'Inhaling' a Planet's Atmosphere

In a discovery straight out of a science fiction novel, NASA, and international scientists have observed a star—AU Mic—evaporating the atmosphere of its planet, AU Mic b, a “hot Neptune!” Located just 35 light-years away, this “next-door” cosmic system offers an unprecedented level of detail.

How Hubble Caught a Star 'Inhaling' a Planet's Atmosphere
The Hubble Space Telescope captures a groundbreaking image of AU Mic evaporating the atmosphere of its planet, AU Mic b, offering unprecedented insights into planetary formation. Credit: NASA

In a discovery that feels ripped from the pages of a science fiction novel, NASA, together with a team of international scientists, has recently observed a star literally evaporating the atmosphere of a planet. The findings were published in “The Astronomical Journal” and represent a major leap in our understanding of how planetary systems come to be. Utilizing the Hubble Space Telescope, the research team, led by Joel Sánchez Bermúdez at the Institute of Astronomy (IA) of the UNAM, honed in on a red dwarf star, AU Mic, and its intriguing planet, AU Mic b.

The formation of stars and planets is an intricate process of cosmic forces. Stars emerge from colossal clouds of gas and dust, with gravity pulling the denser regions of these clouds inward, while the internal gas pressure counteracts this gravitational collapse. Ultimately, a star represents a balance between these forces: gravitational pull and internal gas pressure.