Free Astronomy Magazine January-February 2016

SPACE CHRONICLES characteristics similar to those of Ju- piter. They orbit very close to their stars, making their surface hot, and the planets tricky to study in de- tail without being overwhelmed by bright starlight. Due to this diffi- culty, Hubble has only explored a handful of hot Jupiters in the past, across a limited wavelength range. These initial studies have found several planets to hold less water than expected. Now, an international team of as- tronomers has tackled the problem by making the largest ever study of hot Jupiters, exploring and compar- Diversity of exoplanet atmospheres revealed by NASA T o date, astronomers have dis- covered nearly 2000 planets orbiting other stars. Some of these planets are known as hot Jupi- ters — hot, gaseous planets with