Hubble Makes First Direct Measurements of Atmosphere on World Around another Star

Artist's Concept Running Time: 17 seconds

Animation is an artist's concept of the planet orbiting HD 209458. Though the planet's detailed appearance is an artist's concept, the planet is known to be a gas giant similar to Jupiter, and is locked very close to its host star. Astronomers trained Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on the planet's atmosphere as it passed between its star and the Earth, filtering the star's light as it passes through the atmosphere. The HD 209458 system is 150 light-years from Earth.

Credit: Greg Bacon (STScI/AVL)