Oxygen on Osiris

science > planets > extrasolar

"The well-known extrasolar planet HD 209458b, provisionally nicknamed Osiris, has surprised astronomers again. Oxygen and carbon have been found in its atmosphere, evaporating at such an immense rate that the existence of a new class of extrasolar planets – ‘the chthonian planets’ or ‘dead’ cores of completely evaporated gas giants - has been proposed."

Besides the obvious interest of such a discovery, I find both "Osiris" and "chthonian planets", to be sublime choices of names, in a gothic kinda way.