Free Astronomy Magazine July-August 2021

48 JULY-AUGUST 2021 ASTRO PUBLISHING Hubble watches how a giant planet grows by NASA/ESA - Bethany Downer T his illustration of the newly forming exoplanet PDS 70b shows how material may be falling onto the giant world as it builds up mass. By employing Hubble’s ultraviolet light (UV) sensitivity, researchers got a unique look at radiation from ex- tremely hot gas falling onto the planet, allowing them to di- rectly measure the planet’s mass growth rate for the first time. [Science: McDonald Observatory–University of Texas, Yifan Zhou (UT). Illustration: NASA, ESA, STScI, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)]