Photo Gallery: History of Exoplanet ExplorationAmerican scientists from NASA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have discovereda rocky planet so close to its star that it is disintegrating, and according to forecasts it will disappear completely within 100 million years. As explained by the researchers in the journalAstrophysical Journal, the planet orbits every 15 hours around its star, called KIC 12557548 and located 1,500 light years from Earth. Yfeatures a long tail of debris, similar to that of a comet.
The first indications are that temperatures in the newly discovered rocky world couldexceed 1,800 degrees Celsius. Scientists hypothesize that the side of this planet facing the star is an ocean of boiling magma. The surface melts and evaporates at temperatures so high that the resulting wind energy is sufficient to allow dust and gas to escape into space. This emanation of dust would disintegrate around the star.
The discovery was made possible byKepler space telescope, which last year found for the first time an exoplanet in the so-called “habitable zone”, that is, the region in a planetary system where liquid water can exist on the planet’s surface. Launched in March 2009, its mission is to collect data and evidence from planets orbiting stars with conditions similar to those on Earth.
