Astronomers from the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy (UH IfA) have made the remarkable discovery of a planet’s survival after what should have been certain doom at the hands of its sun. The Jupiter-like planet, known as 8 UMi b, but officially named Halla, orbits the red giant star Baekdu (8 UMi) at only half the distance separating the Earth and the Sun. Using two Maunakea Observatories – W. M. Keck Observatory and Canada-France-Hawaiʻi Telescope (CFHT) – a team of astronomers led by Marc Hon, a NASA Hubble Fellow at UH IfA, has discovered that Halla persists despite the star engulfing the planet, as it turned into a red giant star, before shrinking to its current size at only one tenth of that distance. For more details see the University of Hawai’i press release.