Archive for December, 2007

Hazy red sunset on extrasolar planet

Here is the latest release from the ESA/Hubble office that I have been working on. Hubble astronomers have used the orbiting space observatory to study the atmosphere of the extrasolar planet HD189733b (a number I can’t seem to get out of my head having written it so many times over the past few weeks). This world had previously been observed by the Spitzer Infrared Space Telescope but now Hubble has shown that it actually has a layer of hazes in its upper atmosphere made up of tiny grains of (probably) silicates, iron and aluminum oxide. To read the full press release visit the ESA/Hubble website and of course there is the latest episode of the Hubblecast out where Dr J talks to the head of the ESA/Hubble group Dr Bob Fosbury about this amazing world.
Image credit: ESA, NASA and Frédéric Pont (Geneva University Observatory)


About this site

Before becoming a full-time science writer in 2007, Will studied Astrophysics at University College London. He has written for the UK’s top astronomy magazines and has appeared on television and radio (including the BBC’s The Sky At Night) to promote astronomy and science. He has worked for the European Space Agency's Hubble Space Telescope press office in Germany and is a former News Editor of Astronomy Now magazine in the UK. Today Will writes for BBC Sky At Night magazine. His first popular astronomy book is due to be published by Springer in 2009. Follow Will's Twitter feed here.

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All content copyright Will Gater 2007 (unless otherwise stated). The author is not responsible for the content of external links. Top-bar image courtesy ESA, The Millennium Simulation Project and the Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik