WASP-12b, the hottest known planet in the universe, is also probably going to be the most short-lived in the world. The planet is an extrasolar planet, 40 percent more massive than Jupiter and it's atmosphere has ballooned to nearly 3 times Jupiter's radius. It's being eaten by its parent star, and it likely may have only another 10 million years left before it's completely devoured.
The planet is so close to its star that it's heated to 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and stretched into a football shape. It's also this heat that has caused its atmosphere to balloon, spilling material on the star. Another fun fact is that the effect of matter exchange has only been seen in close binary star systems, but never so clearly before with a star and a planet.
The planet is 600 light years away, so we have no photographs, only artist renderings.
Article: Hubble Finds Star Eating Planet
Link: http://www.newswise.com/articles/hubble-finds-star-eating-a-planet
No comments:
Post a Comment