Planet with comet-like tail observed disintegrating near its star

Will Dunham - Reuters - 01:50
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.
  • Planet is located about 140 light-years away from Earth
  • It sheds material equal to Mount Everest with each orbit
  • Its host star is smaller, cooler and dimmer than the sun
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - 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.

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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,...
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