Stars give tiny planets a gravitational 'squeeze' to strip away their atmospheres

A scientist has learned more about the violent processes that rip atmospheres away from planets, finding that squashing and squeezing by a parent star can contribute to this process.

- Robert Lea

The research, conducted by Guo Jianheng from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, could help astronomers better determine which exoplanets to look at more closely as they expand their search for life beyond the Solar System.

There are multiple ways that planets can lose their atmospheres to space, including the upper atmosphere leaving the planet as a whole, called hydrodynamic escape. This process is thought to be more extreme than the process by which our Solar System’s planets leak particles into space today, causing a planet to lose mass while also impacting its climate, and thus its habitability.