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Space & Astronomy

Kepler telescope eyes disintegrating planet

By T.K. Randall
May 21, 2012 · Comment icon 9 comments

Image Credit: NASA/ESA
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has found a planet being destroyed by the heat of its own parent star.
The 1500-light-year distant object has a long tail of debris like a comet and is believed to be on a path to destruction, with scientists estimating that it has perhaps 200 million years left. The planet's close proximity to the star is likely to be the main contributing factor in its eventual demise, orbiting at just twice the star's diameter and making it one of the shortest orbits of a planet even detected.

The bizarre nature of the light output from this star with its precisely periodic transit-like features and highly variable depths exemplifies how Kepler is expanding the frontiers of science in unexpected ways," said Jon Jenkins of SETI.
Astronomers from Nasa and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have detected a possible planet disintegrating under the searing heat of its host star, which is located 1,500 light-years from earth.


Source: IB Times | Comments (9)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by hooko22 12 years ago
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has found a planet being destroyed by the heat of its own parent star. LOL. I thought the telescope was disintegrating the planet, was wondering how that was possible!
Comment icon #2 Posted by Offeiriad 12 years ago
The pic in the article is supposed to show us what the disintegrating planet looks like?
Comment icon #3 Posted by Troublehalf 12 years ago
Must be pretty hot. Wonder what the temperature is.....
Comment icon #4 Posted by Waspie_Dwarf 12 years ago
Must be pretty hot. Wonder what the temperature is..... It tells you in the article: At an orbital distance of only twice the diameter of its star, the surface temperature of the planet is estimated to be a smouldering 3,300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Comment icon #5 Posted by King Fluffs 12 years ago
I'm glad I don't live their.
Comment icon #6 Posted by S I N 12 years ago
Great place to get a tan
Comment icon #7 Posted by csspwns 12 years ago
it still has 200,000,000 years left. surface temp must be as hot as the sun ;/
Comment icon #8 Posted by hooko22 12 years ago
it still has 200,000,000 years left. surface temp must be as hot as the sun ;/ Imagine the heat! Damn, hot as the sun. Imagine going there on a holiday? Like someone mentioned, imagine the tan!
Comment icon #9 Posted by Waspie_Dwarf 12 years ago
surface temp must be as hot as the sun Damn, hot as the sun. To repeat my earlier quote from the article: At an orbital distance of only twice the diameter of its star, the surface temperature of the planet is estimated to be a smouldering 3,300 degrees Fahrenheit. The surface temperure of the sun is 5,778K, which is around 10,000oF. As hot as this planet is, it's not even 1/3 the temperature of the sun.


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