Chandra Release - July 29, 2013

Visual Description: HD 189733

The artist's illustration in the main panel of this graphic and inset X-ray image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory depict the exoplanet HD 189733b, a "hot Jupiter" located approximately 63 light-years from Earth. This gas giant, about ten times the mass of Jupiter, orbits its parent star every 2.2 days, placing it over 30 times closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun. The artist’s rendering shows a Jupiter-like planet with an extended, fluffy light blue atmosphere around it, in front of its bright orange and yellow parent star. The inset X-ray image at upper right, in small colored purple dots, reveals the parent star at the center, with a faint red companion star detected in X-rays.