A tiny planet is nestled inside the head of a swooping comet-like tail of gas and dust. It faces its star.

The Behemoth

This artist's concept shows "The Behemoth," an enormous comet-like cloud of hydrogen bleeding off of a warm, Neptune-sized planet just 30 light-years from Earth. Also depicted is the parent star (a faint red dwarf) of expolanet GJ 436. The hydrogen is evaporating from the planet due to extreme radiation from the star. A phenomenon this large has never before been seen around any exoplanet.

Credits: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)
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Image CreditNASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)
Size640x354px