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Star Devouring a Planet

Star Devouring a Planet
This is an artist's concept of the exoplanet WASP-12b. It is the hottest known planet in the Milky Way galaxy, and potentially the shortest lived. The planet is only 2 million miles from its sunlike parent star – a fraction of Earth's distance from the Sun. Gravitational tidal forces from the star stretch the planet into an egg shape. The planet is so hot that it has puffed up to the point where its outer atmosphere spills onto the star. An accretion bridge streams toward the star and material is smeared into a swirling disk. The planet may be completely devoured by the star in 10 million years. The planet is too far away for the Hubble Space Telescope to photograph, but this interpretation is based in part on analysis of Hubble spectroscopic and photometric data.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    06h 30m 32s.78
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    +29° 40' 20".3
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Auriga
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    600 light-years (184 parsecs)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
    The data are from HST proposal 11651: C. Haswell (The Open University), P. Wheatley (University of Warwick), L. Hebb and A. Cameron (University of St. Andrews), C. Froning (University of Colorado, Boulder), A. Carter (The Open University), B. Loeillet (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille), C. Helling (University of St. Andrews), and L. Fossati (The Open University).
  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    HST>COS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    Sept. 24-25, 2009, Exposure Time: Approx. 14,000 seconds total (approx. 4 hours)
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    NCM1, Grating: G285M
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    WASP-12b
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Planet around a nearby yellow dwarf star
  • Release Date
    May 20, 2010
  • Science Release
    Hubble Finds Star Eating a Planet
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Artwork: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI); Science: NASA, ESA, and C. Haswell (The Open University, UK)

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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