Astronomers Observe Disintegrating Exoplanet with Record-Breaking Dust Tail
- Astronomers found a rocky planet disintegrating 140 light-years from Earth.
- The planet orbits extremely close to its host star, heating its surface into magma.
- This intense heat causes the planet to shed material, forming a long dusty tail.
- The tail extends up to 9 million kilometers, nearly half the planet's path.
- Scientists predict the planet will vanish in one to two million years.
60 Articles
60 Articles
A planet passes before the eyes of researchers: BD+05 4868 Ab evaporates in real time – a cosmic spectacle that so far has hardly been observed.
It’s not a comet, it’s a rapidly disintegrating exoplanet “on its last breath”
A disintegrating planet orbits a giant star. Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT. Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet 140 light-years from Earth which is disintegrating, leaving a 9-million-km-long comet-like tail. For now, the disintegrating world is about the same size as Mercury. It orbits its host star every 30.5 hours at about 3 million km – about 20 times closer than Mercury is to our Sun. The planet’s surface is likely made of magma that…
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