(I think this one qualifies as a "cool science story of the day!")
Too Close For Comfort: Hubble Discovers An Evaporating Planet
For the first time, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have observed the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet evaporating off into space.
Much of the planet may eventually disappear, leaving only a dense core. The planet is a type of extrasolar planet known as a "hot Jupiter." These
giant gaseous planets orbit their parent stars very closely, drawn to them like moths to a flame.
The scorched planet, called HD 209458b, orbits only 4 million miles (7 million kilometers) from its yellow, Sun-like star. The Hubble observations
reveal a hot and puffed up evaporating hydrogen atmosphere surrounding the planet. This huge envelope of hydrogen resembles a comet with a tail
trailing behind the planet. The planet circles the parent star in a tight, 3.5-day orbit. Earth also has an extended atmosphere of escaping hydrogen
gas, but the loss rate is much lower.
www.sciencedaily.com... 
