Comets aren’t the only cosmic objects that can have a tail. Researchers using the CARMENES instrument on the Calar Alto observatory telescope in Spain have identified a total of five helium-locked exoplanets.
A planet outside of our solar system appears to have lost its atmosphere and has a comet-shaped helium tail, new research from NASA shows. This is caused by radiation from the host star.
The discovery could help explain how gaseous planets lose their atmosphere over time to become rocky planets similar to Venus or Earth, researchers say.
In this new discovery, researchers using the CARMENES instrument on the 3.5-meter telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory in Almería, Spain, identified a total of five helium-locked exoplanets.
One of them, however, is a planet called WASP-69b, which appears to be left behind most of the gas and forms a bizarre helium tail.
“We observed the planet as it entered the region of the spectrum where helium absorbs light,” said Lisa Nortmann, IAC researcher and lead author of the scientific paper.
According to the team, the helium tail drags WASP-69b due to ultraviolet radiation from the host star and separates them from the planet’s atmosphere to form a trailing tail.
