Astronomers Observe Disintegrating Exoplanet with Record-Breaking Dust Tail

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…

Astronomers Witness a Rocky Planet Boiling Away, Leaving Behind a Cosmic Tail

A small, rocky planet 140 light-years away is disintegrating at an alarming rate, shedding mass equivalent to Mount Everest every 30.5 hours. The planet, BD+05 4868 Ab, is so close to its star that its surface is a molten wasteland, releasing minerals into space that form a comet-like tail stretching millions of miles. MIT researchers, using NASA’s TESS satellite, discovered this rare phenomenon — only the fourth known disintegrating exoplanet. …

One Orbit, One Everest Lost: A Planet Evaporates Into a 9-Million-Kilometer Tail

Astronomers from MIT have uncovered a dramatic celestial spectacle: a Mercury-sized exoplanet that is rapidly disintegrating as it orbits perilously close to its star. The small and rocky lava world sheds an amount of material equivalent to the mass of Mount Everest every 30.5 hours. The planet, located 140 light-years away, completes an orbit every [...]

An unusual light signal brought astronomers to the fore: in an alien star system they have discovered a planet with a comet-like tail. For the celestial body they see a dark future.

This Melting Planet Laid a Trail of Destruction Over 5 Million Miles Long

Astronomers have discovered one of the least habitable planets ever. This tiny world is being melted by its host star, leaving a comet-like tail that stretches millions of kilometers behind it. While we're often preoccupied with planets that might be comfy enough for liquid water to pool on the surface, the hellish landscape of BD+05 4868 Ab hosts liquid rock. These magma oceans are boiling right off the surface into space, condensing into a…

‘On its last breath’: MIT astronomers discover disintegrating planet

MIT astronomers estimate a planet 140 light-years from Earth may disintegrate fully within the next 1 to 2 million years.