Sky Survey Unveils Star Cluster
Shredded By The Milky Way

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, and Heidelberg, Germany ­ A team of astronomers from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) collaboration has discovered a spectacular stream of stellar debris emanating from a star cluster that is being torn apart by the Milky Way.

The planet, designated HD 209458b, is unlike any world in our solar system. It orbits so close to its star and gets so hot that its gas is streaming into space, making the planet appear to have a comet-like tail. This new research reveals the layer in the planet's upper atmosphere where the gas becomes so heated it escapes, like steam rising from a boiler.