小行星可以被吞掉,以前听说过这种情况会发生,可是还没有看到过真实的图片,奇妙的太空!同学们有机会的话可以用天文望远镜好好看下咯!( H6 J% {0 q! X6 g! t9 e
Scientists used Hubble data to create an image of the planet being swallowed The Hubble Space Telescope has captured evidence of a Sun-like star "eating" a nearby planet.9 L6 z! G2 L N& ?( a. X, j. H& K s+ A
Astronomers knew that stars were capable of swallowing planets in orbit around them, but this is the first time the event has been "seen" so clearly.0 E* E& |8 @) l! Y
Although the planet was too far away for Hubble to photograph, scientists have created an image of it, based on analysis of the telescope's data.9 P( c2 W4 S1 [& w
The discovery was published in the The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
8 [& x5 ?# s- N/ n/ y/ y The researchers say the planet, which is called Wasp-12b, may only have another 10 million years left before it is completely devoured.
# z, k; D7 l" _ It is so close to its star that it completes an orbit in 1.1 Earth days and is superheated to more than 1,500C.
9 f' H0 `% K) ]7 ^$ c. A Because of this proximity, the planet's atmosphere has ballooned to nearly three times the radius of Jupiter and is spilling material on to the star.3 _) q9 B, c- u9 i! M* ^
Carole Haswell from the UK's Open University led the research team. She explained: "We see a huge cloud of material around the planet which is escaping and will be captured by the star."$ u& S; p" Z6 E+ E. M) ?
Hubble's detection of the cloud enabled scientists to draw conclusions about how it was generated.
5 t8 g' n4 j" v Dr Haswell said: "We have identified chemical elements never before seen on planets outside our own Solar System."3 |, b' u- M0 M* W) M/ l5 M/ _; @
Wasp-12 is a dwarf star located approximately 600 light-years away in the constellation Auriga.
& h% m, v J9 N+ k5 x The exoplanet was first discovered by the UK's Wide Area Search for Planets (Wasp) in 2008. |