Exoplanets Seen Falling Apart

Disintegrating exoplanets, like the one illustrated here, spill their guts into space in a long cometlike tail. Image Credit: JPL-Caltech/NASA

Astronomers have found two planets around two separate stars that are succumbing to their stars’ intense heat. Both are disintegrating before our telescopic eyes, leaving trails of debris similar to a comet’s. Both are ultra-short-period planets (USPs) that orbit their stars rapidly.

These planets are a rare sub-class of USPs that are not massive enough to hold onto their material. Astronomers know of only three other disintegrating planets.

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