A planet death spiral begins TOI-2109b is what astronomers call an \u201cultra-hot Jupiter.\u201d It\u2019s nearly five times the mass of Jupiter<\/a> and almost twice its size. But what really sets it apart is how close it orbits its star \u2013 even closer than Mercury<\/a> orbits our Sun.<\/p>\n \u201cJust to put it into context \u2013 Mercury\u2019s mass is almost 6,000 times smaller than Jupiter\u2019s, but it still takes 88 days to orbit our Sun,\u201d said Dr. Jaime Alvarado-Montes, a Macquarie research fellow who led the study.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a huge gas giant such as TOI-2109b to fully orbit in 16 hours \u2013 it tells us that this is a planet located super close to its star.\u201d <\/p>\n It\u2019s the fastest orbit of any hot Jupiter ever found. And that speed is part of what\u2019s sealing its fate.<\/p>\n Closing in on its star<\/p>\n Using 14 years of data from NASA\u2019s TESS mission, ESA\u2019s CHEOPS satellite, and ground-based telescopes, the team found that the planet\u2019s orbit<\/a> is shrinking and unstable.<\/p>\n By running the numbers through different models and comparing with direct observations, the team concluded that TOI-2109b\u2019s orbital period is decreasing. <\/p>\n In the next three years alone, it could shorten by at least 10 seconds. That doesn\u2019t sound like much \u2013 but in the world of orbital mechanics, it\u2019s huge.<\/p>\n \u201cThis planet and its interesting situation could help us figure out some mysterious astronomical phenomena that so far we really don\u2019t have much evidence to explain,\u201d said Dr. Alvarado-Montes. \u201cIt could tell us the story of many other solar systems<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Planets don\u2019t live forever<\/p>\n Planets don\u2019t live forever. But the way they die isn\u2019t always clear \u2013 and it rarely looks the same twice. Some may be ejected from their solar systems entirely, flung into deep space after chaotic interactions with other planets. <\/p>\n Others might slowly spiral into their stars, especially if they orbit too close. And some get torn apart by gravity, stripped by radiation, or collide with other objects. Most of what we know about planetary death comes from simulations and theories.<\/p>\n Actual observations are rare, because the timescales are usually huge \u2013 far longer than a human lifetime. That\u2019s what makes TOI-2109b so important. It offers a chance to catch a planet in the act of dying, rather than piecing together what happened long after it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n Ripped, swallowed, or stripped<\/p>\n Scientists see three possible endings for TOI-2109b. One, the star\u2019s crushing gravity could pull it apart. Two, the star might swallow it whole as it spirals inward. Or three, it could have its outer gas layers stripped away by intense radiation, leaving behind a dense, rocky core.<\/p>\n That third outcome is especially interesting. If TOI-2109b ends up as a bare core, it could help explain the origins of some rocky planets found in other systems. <\/p>\n These stripped-down worlds might be the fossil remains of gas giants that got too close to their stars. The idea changes how we think about planetary life cycles<\/a>.<\/p>\n A warning from deep space<\/p>\n TOI-2109b may be 870 light-years away, but what happens to it could reshape how we think about other worlds \u2013 including our own.<\/p>\n If gas giants<\/a> can be torn apart or stripped down by their stars, it might explain why we find small, rocky planets in places where they shouldn\u2019t exist. Maybe they\u2019re just the hardened cores of giants that got too close.<\/p>\n Each orbit brings new clues. And the closer TOI-2109b drifts to its star, the more clearly we\u2019ll see how violent \u2013 and unpredictable \u2013 planetary evolution can be.<\/p>\n The team isn\u2019t done watching. In fact, the next few years could be the most revealing yet. They\u2019ll keep tracking the orbit for signs that one of the planet\u2019s three possible fates is beginning. It\u2019s not often astronomers get to witness a planet mid-collapse.<\/p>\n TOI-2109b is giving us a rare look at a planet in real-time crisis \u2013 and it\u2019s changing what we thought we knew about the life and death of worlds.<\/p>\n Image credit: NASA\/CXC\/M. Weiss<\/p>\n The full study was published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Check us out on EarthSnap<\/a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls<\/a> and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s a massive planet out there, far beyond our solar system, that\u2019s speeding around its star so fast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[49,48,66,306],"class_list":["post-47938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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