Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a planet GJ 3470b roughly the size of Neptune, evaporating at a rate 100 times faster than a previously identified exoplanet of similar size.<br />”<br />”<br />”The findings advance astronomers' knowledge about how planets evolve.<br />”<br />”<br />”The planet is 96 light-years away and circles a red dwarf star in the general direction of the constellation Cancer.<br />”<br />”<br />”The speed and distance at which planets orbit their respective blazing stars can determine the rate of evaporation of a planet. The researchers said GJ 3470b's lower density makes it unable to gravitationally hang on to the heated atmosphere.<br />”<br />”<br />”Planets such as &quot;super&quot; Earths and &quot;hot&quot; Jupiters orbit more closely to their stars and are therefore hotter, causing the outermost layer of their atmospheres to be blown away. While these larger Jupiter-sized and smaller Earth-sized exoplanets are plentiful, medium Neptune-sized exoplanets — roughly four times larger than Earth — are rare.<br />” <br />”Hubble found that exoplanet GJ 3470b had lost significantly more mass and had a noticeably smaller exosphere than the first Neptune-sized exoplanet studied, GJ 436b, due to its lower density and receipt of a stronger radiation blast from its host star. Researchers hypothesise that these Neptunes get stripped of their atmospheres and ultimately become smaller planets.&nbsp;<br />”<br />”<br />”<span style="color: #222222;">The research team estimates that GJ 3470b may have already lost up to 35 per cent of its total mass and, in a few billion years, all of its gas may be stripped off, leaving behind only a rocky core.</span><br />