Planet Devouring Star

The planet named WASP-12b is in the process of being devoured by its mother star. This is according to the Astrophysical Journal. The planet was spotted with the Hubble Space Telescope. The planet is about 600 million light years from Earth in the Auriga Constellation and an astounding 300 times bigger than earth .This planet is extremely close to its parent star. In fact, it orbits the star in 24 hours.

The astronomical science community has known for a long time that if a planet ever got this close to a star, the star would devour it. This is the first time it has been seen and recorded. Carole Haswell from the UK's Open University was the lead for the team. She explained: "We see a huge cloud of material around the planet which is escaping and will be captured by the star."

The planet has the hottest known surface temperature. WASP-12b is 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit or 1500 degrees Celsius. Its radius is 79 percent larger and its mass is also 40 percent greater than that of Jupiter.

WASP-12b is not going to be fully consumed in the near future but this will take place in the next 10 million years, and the process has already begun. This may sound like a long time but not for astronomers. The planet will live less than 500 times the current age of earth. We were able to spot this planet devouring star from a device the Hubble installed. This device is called the Cosmic Origins Spectroscope or (COS). The scientists noticed the elongated shape the planet has been whipped into. It has the shaped of an elongated football field. This is due to the tidal forces that are distorting the planet.

Last February a theoretical paper was published by Shu-lin Li of the department of Astronomy at Peking University, Beijing. Shu-lin Li accurately predicted that the planet's surface would become distorted because of the star's gravity. He says this is due to the Tidal forces that they make the interior hot and this will cause the planet to expand. This prediction has now been confirmed by Hubble.