Latest news with #KavliInstituteforAstrophysicsandSpaceResearch
Malay Mail
23-04-2025
- Science
- Malay Mail
Planet on the edge: Disintegrating world with dusty tail offers rare glimpse into exoplanet death spiral
WASHINGTON, April 24 — Astronomers have spotted a small rocky planet that orbits perilously close to its host star disintegrating as its surface is vaporised by stellar heat, trailed by a comet-like tail of mineral dust up to about 9 million km long. About 5,800 planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, have been discovered since the 1990s. Of those, only four have been observed disintegrating in orbit, as this one is. This planet is the closest to our solar system of the four, giving scientists a unique opportunity to learn about what happens to these doomed worlds. The researchers observed the planet, named BD+05 4868 Ab, as it gradually crumbles into dust, shedding material roughly equal to the mass of Mount Everest with each orbit of its star. The tail of dust trailing the planet wraps halfway around the star. The planet is estimated as between the size of our solar system's smallest and innermost planet Mercury and Earth's moon. It is located about 140 light years away from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). Its host star, a type called an orange dwarf, is smaller, cooler and dimmer than the sun, with about 70 per cent of the sun's mass and diameter and about 20 per cent of its luminosity. The planet orbits this star every 30.5 hours at a distance about 20 times closer than Mercury is to the sun. The planet's surface temperature is estimated at close to about 1,600°Celsius thanks to its close proximity to its star. As a result, the planet's surface has probably been turned to magma — molten rock. 'We expect the planet to disintegrate into dust within the next million years or so,' said Marc Hon, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and lead author of the study published on Tuesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 'This is catastrophically quick in cosmic timescales. The disintegration is a runaway process. As more material from the planet turns into dust, the disintegration process gets faster,' Hon said. Once in space, the vaporised material cools down to form mineral dust that streams away from the planet. 'We know the dust grains in the tail can have sizes between large soot particles and fine grains of sand,' Hon said. 'We don't know the mineral composition of the tail yet.' The researchers detected BD+05 4868 Ab using the 'transit method,' observing a dip in the host star's brightness when the planet passes in front of it, from the perspective of a viewer on Earth. It was found using Nasa's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, space telescope. How the planet came to have its current close-in orbit is unclear. 'The planet's orbit is not seen to be visibly decaying from the data. It is possible that the planet initially formed farther away, and had its original orbit altered under the influence of an external body, such that the planet was sent much closer to the star,' Hon said. This could have resulted from the gravitational influence of another planet or some other celestial object. The researchers plan further observations in the coming months using Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope to study the composition of the material in the tail, which could give clues about the makeup of rocky exoplanets. The search for life in other solar systems focuses on rocky exoplanets orbiting stars in the 'habitable zone,' a distance where liquid water, a key ingredient for life, can exist on a planetary surface. 'The tail is expected to contain minerals evaporated from the surface or interior of the disintegrating planet. So, this could be the crust, mantle or even the planet's core. Learning about the interiors of planets is extremely challenging. Doing this even for planets within our solar system is difficult. But BD+05 4868 Ab will allow us to directly measure the mineral composition of a terrestrial planet outside our solar system,' Hon said. 'This is definitely an exceptional opportunity for exoplanet geology and to understand the diversity and potential habitability of rocky worlds beyond our solar system,' Hon said. — Reuters
Business Recorder
23-04-2025
- Science
- Business Recorder
Planet with comet-like tail observed disintegrating near its star
WASHINGTON: Astronomers have spotted a small rocky planet that orbits perilously close to its host star disintegrating as its surface is vaporized by stellar heat, trailed by a comet-like tail of mineral dust up to about 5.6 million miles (9 million km) long. About 5,800 planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, have been discovered since the 1990s. Of those, only four have been observed disintegrating in orbit, as this one is. This planet is the closest to our solar system of the four, giving scientists a unique opportunity to learn about what happens to these doomed worlds. The researchers observed the planet, named BD+05 4868 Ab, as it gradually crumbles into dust, shedding material roughly equal to the mass of Mount Everest with each orbit of its star. The tail of dust trailing the planet wraps halfway around the star. The planet is estimated as between the size of our solar system's smallest and innermost planet Mercury and Earth's moon. It is located about 140 light years away from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). Its host star, a type called an orange dwarf, is smaller, cooler and dimmer than the sun, with about 70% of the sun's mass and diameter and about 20% of its luminosity. The planet orbits this star every 30.5 hours at a distance about 20 times closer than Mercury is to the sun. The planet's surface temperature is estimated at close to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1,600 degrees Celsius) thanks to its close proximity to its star. As a result, the planet's surface has probably been turned to magma - molten rock. 'We expect the planet to disintegrate into dust within the next million years or so,' said Marc Hon, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and lead author of the study published on Tuesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 'This is catastrophically quick in cosmic timescales. The disintegration is a runaway process. As more material from the planet turns into dust, the disintegration process gets faster,' Hon said. Once in space, the vaporized material cools down to form mineral dust that streams away from the planet. 'We know the dust grains in the tail can have sizes between large soot particles and fine grains of sand,' Hon said. 'We don't know the mineral composition of the tail yet.' The researchers detected BD+05 4868 Ab using the 'transit method,' observing a dip in the host star's brightness when the planet passes in front of it, from the perspective of a viewer on Earth. It was found using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, space telescope. How the planet came to have its current close-in orbit is unclear. 'The planet's orbit is not seen to be visibly decaying from the data. It is possible that the planet initially formed farther away, and had its original orbit altered under the influence of an external body, such that the planet was sent much closer to the star,' Hon said. This could have resulted from the gravitational influence of another planet or some other celestial object. The researchers plan further observations in the coming months using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to study the composition of the material in the tail, which could give clues about the makeup of rocky exoplanets. The search for life in other solar systems focuses on rocky exoplanets orbiting stars in the 'habitable zone,' a distance where liquid water, a key ingredient for life, can exist on a planetary surface. NASA's oldest active astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday 'The tail is expected to contain minerals evaporated from the surface or interior of the disintegrating planet. So, this could be the crust, mantle or even the planet's core. Learning about the interiors of planets is extremely challenging. Doing this even for planets within our solar system is difficult. But BD+05 4868 Ab will allow us to directly measure the mineral composition of a terrestrial planet outside our solar system,' Hon said. 'This is definitely an exceptional opportunity for exoplanet geology and to understand the diversity and potential habitability of rocky worlds beyond our solar system,' Hon said.
Express Tribune
23-04-2025
- Science
- Express Tribune
Planet observed disintegrating near its star
Astronomers have spotted a small rocky planet that orbits perilously close to its host star disintegrating as its surface is vaporized by stellar heat, trailed by a comet-like tail of mineral dust up to about 5.6 million miles (9 million km) long. About 5,800 planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, have been discovered since the 1990s. Of those, only four have been observed disintegrating in orbit, as this one is. This planet is the closest to our solar system of the four, giving scientists a unique opportunity to learn about what happens to these doomed worlds. The researchers observed the planet, named BD+05 4868 Ab, as it gradually crumbles into dust, shedding material roughly equal to the mass of Mount Everest with each orbit of its star. The tail of dust trailing the planet wraps halfway around the star. The planet is estimated as between the size of our solar system's smallest and innermost planet Mercury and Earth's moon. It is located about 140 light years away from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). Its host star, a type called an orange dwarf, is smaller, cooler and dimmer than the sun, with about 70% of the sun's mass and diameter and about 20% of its luminosity. The planet orbits this star every 30.5 hours at a distance about 20 times closer than Mercury is to the sun. The planet's surface temperature is estimated at close to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1,600 degrees Celsius) thanks to its close proximity to its star. As a result, the planet's surface has probably been turned to magma - molten rock. "We expect the planet to disintegrate into dust within the next million years or so," said Marc Hon, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and lead author of the study published on Tuesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "This is catastrophically quick in cosmic timescales. The disintegration is a runaway process. As more material from the planet turns into dust, the disintegration process gets faster," Hon said. Once in space, the vaporized material cools down to form mineral dust that streams away from the planet. "We know the dust grains in the tail can have sizes between large soot particles and fine grains of sand," Hon said. "We don't know the mineral composition of the tail yet." The researchers detected BD+05 4868 Ab using the "transit method", observing a dip in the host star's brightness when the planet passes in front of it, from the perspective of a viewer on Earth. It was found using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, space telescope. How the planet came to have its current close-in orbit is unclear. "The planet's orbit is not seen to be visibly decaying from the data. It is possible that the planet initially formed farther away, and had its original orbit altered under the influence of an external body, such that the planet was sent much closer to the star," Hon said. This could have resulted from the gravitational influence of another planet or some other celestial object.
Straits Times
22-04-2025
- Science
- Straits Times
Planet with comet-like tail observed disintegrating near its star
Disintegrating planet BD+05 4868 Ab orbits a sun-like star 140 light years away from Earth and is being vaporised by stellar heat. PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON - Astronomers have spotted a small rocky planet that orbits perilously close to its host star disintegrating as its surface is vaporised by stellar heat, trailed by a comet-like tail of mineral dust up to about 9 million km long. About 5,800 planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, have been discovered since the 1990s. Of those, only four have been observed disintegrating in orbit, as this one is. This planet is the closest to our solar system of the four, giving scientists a unique opportunity to learn about what happens to these doomed worlds. The researchers observed the planet, named BD+05 4868 Ab, as it gradually crumbles into dust, shedding material roughly equal to the mass of Mount Everest with each orbit of its star. The tail of dust trailing the planet wraps halfway around the star. The planet is estimated as between the size of our solar system's smallest and innermost planet Mercury and Earth's moon. It is located about 140 light years away from Earth in the constellation Pegasus. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 9.5 trillion km. Its host star, a type called an orange dwarf, is smaller, cooler and dimmer than the sun, with about 70 per cent of the sun's mass and diameter and about 20 per cent of its luminosity. The planet orbits this star every 30.5 hours at a distance about 20 times closer than Mercury is to the sun. The planet's surface temperature is estimated at about 1,600 deg C, thanks to its close proximity to its star. As a result, the planet's surface has probably been turned to magma - molten rock. 'We expect the planet to disintegrate into dust within the next million years or so,' said Assistant Professor Marc Hon, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and lead author of the study published on April 22 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 'This is catastrophically quick in cosmic timescales. The disintegration is a runaway process. As more material from the planet turns into dust, the disintegration process gets faster,' Prof Hon said. Once in space, the vaporised material cools down to form mineral dust that streams away from the planet. 'We know the dust grains in the tail can have sizes between large soot particles and fine grains of sand,' Hon said. 'We don't know the mineral composition of the tail yet.' The researchers detected BD+05 4868 Ab using the 'transit method,' observing a dip in the host star's brightness when the planet passes in front of it, from the perspective of a viewer on Earth. It was found using Nasa's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or Tess, space telescope. How the planet came to have its current close-in orbit is unclear. 'The planet's orbit is not seen to be visibly decaying from the data. It is possible that the planet initially formed farther away, and had its original orbit altered under the influence of an external body, such that the planet was sent much closer to the star,' Prof Hon said. This could have resulted from the gravitational influence of another planet or some other celestial object. The researchers plan further observations in the coming months using Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope to study the composition of the material in the tail, which could give clues about the makeup of rocky exoplanets. The search for life in other solar systems focuses on rocky exoplanets orbiting stars in the 'habitable zone,' a distance where liquid water, a key ingredient for life, can exist on a planetary surface. 'The tail is expected to contain minerals evaporated from the surface or interior of the disintegrating planet. So, this could be the crust, mantle or even the planet's core. Learning about the interiors of planets is extremely challenging. Doing this even for planets within our solar system is difficult. But BD+05 4868 Ab will allow us to directly measure the mineral composition of a terrestrial planet outside our solar system,' Prof Hon said. 'This is definitely an exceptional opportunity for exoplanet geology and to understand the diversity and potential habitability of rocky worlds beyond our solar system,' Prof Hon said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers discover hellscape world crumbling into its host sun
Inside the Pegasus constellation, a planet is disintegrating into boiling chunks of rock and evaporating minerals. Its dramatic final days aren't due to cataclysmic surface events, but rather the proximity to its star. With a 30.5-hour orbit and a position about 20 times closer than Mercury's distance to our sun, BD+05 4868 Ab more resembles a comet than a planet, with a debris tail as much as 5.6 million miles long. 'The extent of the tail is gargantuan… roughly half of the planet's entire orbit,' Marc Hon, an MIT postdoc at the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, said in a statement. Discovered by accident using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), Hon and colleagues detail BD+05 4868 Ab's final days in a study published April 22 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.'We weren't looking for this kind of planet,' Hon explained. 'We were doing the typical planet vetting, and I happened to spot this signal that appeared very unusual.' An orbiting exoplanet's signal typically features a brief, regularly repeating light curve dip that indicates it's passing in front of a host star. BD+05 4868 Ab's brightness takes much longer to return to its normal measurement. This implies a long, trailing formation that continues to block host starlight. Each orbital rotation's light dip also varies, indicating that the formation is dynamically shifting in size and composition. Although the transit shape resembles a long-tailed comet, the composition doesn't align with that kind of space object. 'It's unlikely that this tail contains volatile gases and ice as expected from a real comet—these would not survive long at such close proximity to the host star,' said Hon. 'Mineral grains evaporated from the planetary surface, however, can linger long enough to present such a distinctive tail.' Astronomers have only identified three disintegrating planets before BD+05 4868 Ab, all of which were detected over a decade ago using data collected by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope. The newest find is the most violent example yet, with the longest tail and deepest transits of the four known examples. 'That implies that its evaporation is the most catastrophic, and it will disappear much faster than the other planets,' said Hon. 'Faster' is often relative when dealing with cosmic events, and BD+05 4868 Ab's case is no exception. Even losing an estimated Mount Everest's worth of material with every orbit, it will still take 1–2 million years before the planet is completely destroyed. Until then, conditions on BD+05 4868 Ab will remain pretty hellish: surface temperatures reach an estimated 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Such constant, punishing heat also means the entire planet is likely covered in boiling magma as its mineral grains continue to evaporate into space. 'This is a very tiny object, with very weak gravity, so it easily loses a lot of mass, which then further weakens its gravity, so it loses even more mass,' explained Avi Shporer, a study co-author at the TESS Science Office. 'It's a runaway process, and it's only getting worse and worse for the planet.' According to Shporer, it's pure luck that astronomers detected BD+05 4868 Ab when they did. 'We got lucky with catching it exactly when it's really going away,' said Shporer. 'It's like [it's] on its last breath.'
