Scientists have discovered a planet that is literally falling apart as it orbits its star. Located about 140 light-years from Earth in the Pegasus constellation , this doomed world named BD+05 4868 Ab whips around its star once every 30.5 hours — so close that its surface is being scorched into magma and vaporizing into space.
With each orbit, BD+05 4868 Ab leaves a blazing trail of molten rock behind it like a comet made of lava, offering a rare glimpse of an exoplanet in the final stages of its destruction. What's even more astonishing: with every blistering 30-hour orbit — which heats the planet to close to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,600 degrees Celsius) — the planet sheds as much mass of molten rock as an entire Mount Everest.
