Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet that is headed for its demise: it must collide with a star

Astronomers have discovered a unique exoplanet in space. It is moving toward its destruction. Soon the planet will collide with a star that will destroy it.

According to CNN, an exoplanet called Kepler-1658b is spiraling toward its parent star. It was found and identified in 2019. It is noteworthy that ten years before that, the Kepler space telescope first spotted the planet in space (to view the photo, click to the bottom of the page).

Scientists call Kepler-1658b "hot Jupiter". The fact is that it is similar in size to Jupiter, but has a very high temperature. Kepler-1658b orbits its aging star in 3.85 days.

However, astronomers have noticed that the orbit is fading. This makes Kepler-1658b gradually approach its star. And when it collides with it, it will be completely destroyed.

"We have previously found evidence of exoplanets spiraling towards their stars, but we have never seen such a planet around an evolved star before," said Shreyas Vissapragada, a researcher at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and lead author of the study.

He noted that according to the theory, evolved stars are very efficient at absorbing energy from the orbits of their planets. Now scientists have the opportunity to verify this.

It is also known that the orbit of Kepler-1658b is decreasing at a rate of 131 milliseconds per year.

"The telescopes observed a drop in the star's brightness as the planet passed in front of it. The intervals between these dips, called transits, steadily decreased as the orbit faded," the scientist added.

The reason for this unique phenomenon is the tidal interaction or gravitational relationship between Kepler-1658b and its star. This is what creates the planet's inward pull.

"In the course of this study, we realized that the planet may be bright because it is much hotter than previously thought, which can happen if the same effects that cause the planet's orbit to break up also heat it," Wissanapragada added.

At the same time, the aging star around which Kepler-1658b orbits is expanding and entering the subgiant phase before becoming a red giant, i.e. a dying star, in the last stages of life.

"In about five billion years, the Sun will turn into a red giant star. It seems obvious that Mercury and Venus will be swallowed up during this process, but what happens to the Earth is less clear," the scientist said, based on observations of Kepler-1658b.

He emphasized that the system of this exoplanet can be a celestial laboratory for many years.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, an extremely "super-hot" Jupiter-like exoplanet with temperatures as high as 5760° F is likely to have a multi-layered atmosphere that strangely resembles Earth's. WASP-189b is a gaseous planet that is more than one and a half times larger than Jupiter.

Only verified information is available on our Obozrevatel Telegram channel and Viber. Don't fall for fakes!