Title: Young Planet Around Red Dwarf Star Experiences “Hiccups,” Reveals Hubble Space Telescope
Subtitle: Scientists Shocked by Unpredictable Atmospheric Loss and Variable Observations
Date: [Insert Date]
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a fascinating phenomenon as it observed a young planet whirling around a red dwarf star, appearing to experience “hiccups.” The planet, named AU Mic b, is located so close to its parent star, AU Microscopii, that it is subjected to a continuous and powerful blast of energy.
This intense energy has been found to evaporate the planet’s hydrogen atmosphere, causing it to escape into space, creating a peculiar puff of gas. The discovery was made by NASA, which noted that during one orbit, the planet appeared to retain its material. However, during subsequent observations a year and a half later, clear signs of atmospheric loss were visible.
Astronomers were surprised by the extreme variability between orbits. Keighley Rockcliffe of Dartmouth College commented, “We’ve never seen atmospheric escape go from completely undetectable to very detectable over such a short period when a planet passes in front of its star. We were really expecting something very predictable, repeatable. But it turned out to be weird. When I first saw this, I thought ‘That can’t be right.'”
The observation of the planet’s atmosphere puffing off also puzzled scientists, providing a stress-test case for existing planetary evolution models and physics. The parent star, AU Microscopii, is located approximately 32 light-years away from Earth and is home to one of the youngest planetary systems ever observed, with an age of less than 100 million years.
AU Mic b, the innermost planet in the system, is located just six million miles from the star and has a diameter approximately four times that of the Earth. The stellar flares emitted by young red dwarfs like AU Microscopii release powerful radiation, driven by tangled magnetic fields within the stellar atmosphere.
When the tangling becomes too intense, the magnetic fields break and reconnect, releasing energy that is 100 to 1,000 times more energetic than the sun’s outbursts. Rockcliffe stated, “This creates a really unconstrained and, frankly, scary stellar wind environment that’s impacting the planet’s atmosphere.” Such events occurring within the first 100 million years of a star’s birth could potentially strip a planet of its atmosphere.
Scientists now strive to understand the types of planets that can survive such extreme conditions and determine the likelihood of habitability in similar systems. Changes in atmospheric outflow from AU Mic b suggest variations in the red dwarf’s outbursts, with one explanation proposing that a flare may have photoionized the escaping hydrogen, rendering it transparent and undetectable. Another possibility is that the stellar wind itself shapes the planetary outflow and causes intermittent outbursts.
Although the glare from AU Microscopii makes it impossible to directly view the planet, Hubble can measure changes in the star’s apparent brightness resulting from hydrogen escaping from the planet. This dimming effect occurs when the planet transits the star, offering valuable insights into the planet’s atmosphere.
As researchers continue to unravel the mysteries surrounding this young planet and its interactions with its parent star, the Hubble Space Telescope continues to provide remarkable discoveries and deepen our understanding of the vast expanse of the universe.
[Optional: Insert caption – The Hubble Space Telescope in action during its second servicing mission in 1997. (NASA via Getty Images)]
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