Astronomers have xex onlineaccidentally found a planet with a debris trail like a cometthat stretches up to 5.5 million miles in space.
This strange exoplanet, located 140 light-yearsaway from Earth in the constellation Pegasus, appears to be rapidly falling apart. Its blistering host star is so close, the radiation is effectively melting it down, leaving behind a long tail of dust.
Scientists say the rocky world, labeled BD+05 4868 Ab, is losing about one Mount Everest's worth of rock material with each orbit. At that rate, it may completely disintegrate in 1 million to 2 million years.
A team of MIT-led researchers discovered the planet with NASA's TESS mission — short for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite — a probe designed to find new worlds as they pass in front of their host stars. The findingsare published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
"We weren't looking for this kind of planet," said Marc Hon, the paper's lead author, in a statement. "I happened to spot this signal that appeared very unusual."
A team of MIT-led researchers discovered the planet with NASA's TESS mission — short for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite — a probe designed to find new worlds as they pass in front of their host stars. Credit: NASA illustration Only three other planets with tails, all discovered more than a decade ago, are known. But this one stands out for the length of its tail and how bright its star is, making it easier to study with powerful telescopes. The research team intends to follow up with James Webb Space Telescopeobservations this summer to study the tail's features and decipher what minerals make up the planet.
One thing they already know about the tail is that its dust particles are surprisingly large — the size of sand grains. Without this gargantuan tail, scientists may not have known the planet was crumbling. The tail had been blocking some of the star's light after the planet passed in front of it, which caused the star to dim in unexpected ways. Those dimmings were uneven and appeared to change each time the planet zipped by.
"We got lucky with catching it exactly when it's really going away," said Avi Shporer, one of the paper's co-authors, in a statement. "It's like on its last breath."
Exoplanet BD+05 4868 Ab is about the size of Mercuryand wraps around its star once every 30.5 hours — meaning its year is only slightly longer than a day on Earth. That's possible in part because the planet is roughly 20 times closer to its star than Mercury is to the sun. At that distance, the planet’s surface is perhaps 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit and covered in magma.
The team believes the star has whittled away the planet over billions of years. Its diminutive size means it doesn’t have enough gravity to hold onto its material, thus compounding the effect.
Researchers are now sifting through TESS data, hoping to find more planets with tails like BD+05 4868 Ab. They may have stumbled upon a unique way to directly study the interior composition of a rocky planet. Such work could give astronomers a better understanding of the diversity of other terrestrial planets like Earth in the galaxy.
"Sometimes with the food comes the appetite," Shporer said.
‘The Waiting Room’ at Santa Monica Playhouse
Apple's new iPad Pro is coming in May, report claims
Best Amazon deals: Get the Kindle Scribe for $100 off
Amazon deals of the day: Save up to 56% on Echo, Anker, and Kindle
‘Manzanar to Mount Whitney’ Author to Speak at JCI
Best Apple Vision Pro deal: Save $200 on a new unit at Woot! for a limited time
Amazon deals of the day: Save up to 56% on Echo, Anker, and Kindle
7 Cups safety: What to know about trolls on the platform
‘I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story’ Opens at JANM Sept. 14
Best Amazon Big Spring Sale scanner deals: ScanSnap, Epson, and more
'Kokeshi' Author to Speak at Japan Foundation
Elon Musk says Grok AI will be available to premium X users 'later this week'
Wordle today: The answer and hints for March 30
Best Xbox deal: Get a refurbished Xbox Series X for $200 less than a new one at Woot!
Venetian Ondo
How to reduce your screen time with rituals
How to watch 'Wish': Disney's latest is streaming in 2024
How to take screenshots on Windows
karrigan on beating NAVI: "It literally felt like a playoff game"
Amazon Big Spring Sale 2024: Shop 300+ deals on Apple, robot vacuums, security cameras, more
The difference in these shoes for girls and boys shows sexism is very much aliveDonald Trump's dangerous new low: altAirbnb offers free housing to those affected by Barcelona attacksNASA's Artemis I has already captured stunning footage of EarthFor a brief, beautiful moment, Bing's homepage featured a penis80 totally benign things Trump condemned more harshly than neoInstagram husband's parody wellness account is comedy goldAfter Charlottesville, tech companies are forced to take action against hate speech'Simpsons' fan creates handy way of remembering the counties of IrelandGoFundMe erased campaigns for man accused of killing counter Community Welcomes New Consul General ‘Squid Game’ Wins 6 Emmy Awards Out of 14 Nominations Next on ‘Asian Pacific America’: Lauren Jiang, Rising With the Tides Fellowship Foxtrot Command Aims Global Adoption of Blockchain via NFT Games Gala’s Web3 Game Grit Accessible to Epic Games Store’s 194M+ Players Next on ‘Asian Pacific America’: Danny Wan, Janet Alvarado, Jon Nakamatsu San Francisco Street Renamed in Memory of Hate Crime Victim JACCC Awarded Grant from Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts for Hirokazu Kosaka Exhibition City of Torrance Joins Call for Investigation of Kei OBITUARY: Renowned Asian American Studies Scholar and Author Franklin Odo
0.1417s , 10085.421875 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【xex online】This weird planet sports a giant tail like a comet,Feature Flash
