April 22, 2025 | WASHINGTON (Science Desk) — In a rare cosmic discovery, astronomers have identified a rocky exoplanet breaking apart as it orbits dangerously close to its host star, located just 140 light-years from Earth in the Pegasus constellation.
The planet, officially named BD+05 4868 Ab, is being gradually vaporized by the intense heat of its star, leaving behind a comet-like trail of mineral dust stretching nearly 5.6 million miles (9 million km). With each orbit, it loses a mass equivalent to Mount Everest, as its surface disintegrates under extreme temperatures.
This rare event marks only the fourth known instance of a planet being observed disintegrating in real-time — and it’s the closest such case to our solar system, offering scientists an unprecedented opportunity to study planetary destruction.
The dust tail of BD+05 4868 Ab extends halfway around its orange dwarf star, which is cooler and smaller than the Sun, with just 70% of its mass and 20% of its luminosity. The doomed planet is estimated to be between the size of Mercury and Earth’s moon.
Since the 1990s, astronomers have discovered over 5,800 exoplanets, but only a handful have been caught in the act of breaking apart. This new observation could reveal valuable insights into planetary evolution, orbital decay, and the extreme environments around distant stars.
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