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Helium discovered in the tail of an exoplanet

As the exoplanet WASP-107b orbits its host star, its atmosphere escapes to form a comet-like tail. Helium atoms detected in the escaping gases give astronomers a powerful tool for investigating exoplanetary atmospheres.
  1. Drake Deming

    1. Drake Deming is in the Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.

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Helium is ubiquitous in the Universe. Large amounts were generated in the Big Bang1, and nearly every star begins its life by producing helium in its core through the nuclear fusion of hydrogen. The atmospheres of giant exoplanets are expected to have an abundance of helium2, because these planets formed from recycled gas and dust from a previous generation of stars. However, searches for helium in such atmospheres have been unsuccessful3. In a paper in Nature, Spake et al.4 report the discovery of helium atoms in the eroding atmosphere of the giant exoplanet WASP-107b. Their work opens a new chapter in the study of exoplanetary atmospheres.

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Nature 557, 35-36 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-04969-6

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