Scientists used Hubble data to create an image of the planet being swallowed. : F/ O7 w) l1 \! U+ s
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured evidence of a Sun-like star "eating" a nearby planet.
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. b; O2 I. A% I! z' s- Y 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.
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0 {1 S6 b- |- {% t& ^ 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., g, @/ s0 G9 X& O* A/ q- G4 E/ Q! O
" a/ ~! D. v% s The discovery was published in the The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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`: ~5 R0 b# N2 B) y& ~ The researchers say the planet, which is called Wasp-12b, may only have another 10 million years left before it is completely devoured.
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& g5 z" a& F- a q 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.' t7 Q+ ^8 l+ D& A2 j
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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.% X- u6 z% v0 Z. y
- d2 `/ o' ^/ Z6 k5 a2 Z: @ 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."8 n3 _3 d0 v7 F' f. Y
1 M2 z; X9 H4 M$ h Hubble's detection of the cloud enabled scientists to draw conclusions about how it was generated.7 W- H9 G9 C2 z! [
) p5 Z" ?# Z2 K; x) W! l Dr Haswell said: "We have identified chemical elements never before seen on planets outside our own Solar System."3 b1 X" |. O, _$ ]
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Wasp-12 is a dwarf star located approximately 600 light-years away in the constellation Auriga.
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The exoplanet was first discovered by the UK's Wide Area Search for Planets (Wasp) in 2008. |