BD+05 4868Ab
.png){kind=spacer} A simulation of the dust trails produced by BD+05 4868Ab. | |
| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovery date | 2025 |
| Transit | |
| Orbital characteristics | |
| 0.0208 | |
| 1.27 d | |
| Star | BD+05 4868 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Unknown | |
| Temperature | 1820 K |
BD+05 4868Ab is an exoplanet located 140 light years from Earth in the constellation of Pegasus. It orbits at a distance of 0.02 AU around the primary star of the BD+05 4868 binary star system. Due to the close proximity to its host star, the planet is likely covered in magma, making it a lava planet.[1]
It was discovered in 2025 using the transit method.[1][2]
Evaporation
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The planet currently has a mass similar to the Moon. However, mass is being stripped off, forming long comet-like trails 9 million kilometers long behind and in front of it. Theses trails extend over half of the planet's orbit around the star. Dust grains found within the trails are found to be 1-10 microns in size. BD+05 4868Ab represents an extreme case of a catastrophically evaporating planet. It is thought that BD+05 4868Ab initially had a mass greater than Mercury, but over a time scale of several billion years, it lost that mass due to evaporation.[3][4]
As of 2025[update] it is one of four known disintegrating planets, along with Kepler-1520b, KOI-2700b, and K2-22b.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Martin, Pierre-Yves (2025). "Planet BD+05 4868 Ab". exoplanet.eu. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
- ^ "BD+05 4868 A b - NASA Ciencia" (in Spanish). 2025-03-27. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
- ^ a b Hon, Marc; Rappaport, Saul; Shporer, Avi; Vanderburg, Andrew; Collins, Karen A.; Watkins, Cristilyn N.; Schwarz, Richard P.; Barkaoui, Khalid; Yee, Samuel W. (2025-03-21), A Disintegrating Rocky Planet with Prominent Comet-like Tails Around a Bright Star, arXiv, doi:10.48550/arXiv.2501.05431, arXiv:2501.05431, retrieved 2025-04-22
- ^ "Astronomers Discover Disintegrating Exoplanet with Prominent Comet-Like Tails | Sci.News". Sci.News: Breaking Science News. 2025-04-22. Retrieved 2025-04-22.