Tag Archives: collapsed

Astronomers Find Collapsed Exoplanets Sporting Comet-Like Tails

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Using data from NASA’s transit exoplanetary survey satellite (TESS), MIT astronomers discovered a rocky exoplanet orbiting the bright K-Dwarf Star BD+05 4868A and observed variable transport depths, a feature of comet-like tails formed by the dusty effects expressing the distemination planet. This exoplanet-specific is the presence of a dust tail that is prominent in both subsequent and major directions, contributing to the extinction of starlight from the host star.

Impressions of the collapsed exoplanet artists around a giant star. Image credits: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT.

BD+05 4868A also known as TIC 466376085 or hip 107587, is about 140 light years away from the Pegasus constellation.

A new descattering named BD+05 4868AB approaches the star towards the sun at about 20 times the mercury, completing its orbit every 30.5 hours, but about the mass of mercury.

In close proximity to BD+05 4868A, the planet is roasted at about 1,600 degrees Celsius (3,000 degrees Fahrenheit) and may be covered in boiling magma in space.

Just as planets bubble around the stars, it strips off a huge amount of surface minerals and effectively evaporates.

MIT astronomer Marc Hon and colleagues discovered BD+05 4868AB using NASA’s Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).

The signal that turned the astronomer over was a unique transport with a dip that all orbits were deeply fluctuating.

They confirmed that the signal is a tough orbital planet that has long been chasing comet-like fragments.

“The tail range is huge, extending up to 9 million km long, or about half the entire planet’s orbit,” Dr. Hong said.

“The planets collapse at a dramatic rate, and each time a star orbits the star, it appears to be throwing away the amount of material equivalent to Mount Everest.”

Researchers predict that the planet could completely collapse within about 1 to 2 million years.

Dr. Avi Shporer, an astronomer at MIT, said:

Of the almost 6,000 planets astronomers have discovered so far, scientists know only three other collapsed planets beyond our solar system.

Each of these crumbling worlds was discovered over a decade ago using data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. All three planets were found with similar comet-like tails.

The BD+05 4868AB has the longest tail to date and has the deepest transits from four known collapsed planets.

“That means that its evaporation is the most devastating and disappears much faster than other planets,” Dr. Hong said.

Team’s result It will be published in Astrophysics Journal Letter.

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Markhon et al. 2025. A crumbling rocky planet with a prominent comet-like tail around a bright star. apjlin press; Arxiv: 2501.05431

Source: www.sci.news

Intuitive Machine: Athena Lander Reaches Moon, but Deems to Have Collapsed

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IM-2 missions in low lunar orbits

An intuitive machine

The intuitive machine Athena Lander has reached the moon, but appears to have fallen. The Lander is still working, but it is not yet clear which part of the mission will still be able to achieve.

The spacecraft was mounted on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida on February 27th. It landed on March 6th, but the landing was not completely successful, and the exact location or orientation of the lunar surface is still unknown.

“I don’t think we’re in the right attitude on the surface of the moon,” the CEO of the intuitive machine said. Stephen Altmus At a press conference just after landing. This is similar to the company’s last attempt at landing on the moon, the Odysseus spacecraft. It was the first time a private company had landed a spacecraft on the moon, but it turned over to its side and was unable to send much of the data back.

There are a variety of scientific instruments in Athena, but perhaps the most important of these are the regoliths and ice drills to explore new terrain (Trident), a NASA experiment designed to drill up to a maximum metre to a meter through the lunar soil. The purpose is to take samples from underground, analyze their contents, and search for water ice and other compounds.

“This experiment marks an important milestone as it will mark the first robotic drilling activity to be carried out in the Antarctic region of the lunar.” Jacqueline Quinn At KSC at a press conference on February 25th. If Trident is still working, “This is an important step in understanding and leveraging the moon’s resources to support future exploration,” she said.

As part of the IM-2 mission, Athena carried several rovers to the moon. One of them is called Grace after Grace Hopper, a computer scientist and mathematician, and unlike the rover that came before him, he is designed to fly around the surface, firing small boosters to dive into the air up to 100 meters, travelling about 200 meters. Grace aims to explore the strange, permanently shadowed craters of the moon.

Athena operators were able to send craft commands to turn it on and off and downlink some of their data to Earth. The solar panels also function to charge Lander electronics. That seems good news, but the team is still working to figure out which instruments can achieve some of their scientific goals, Altemus said.

This is part of a broader push to increase lunar exploration in preparation for planned human missions over the next decade. The Blue Ghost Lander at Firefly Aerospace arrived in the moon on March 2nd. Resilience Lander, a Japanese company Ispace, is on the way.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Possible discovery of extraterrestrial aurora on a neighboring collapsed star

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Brown dwarfs, often referred to as “failed stars,” are a fascinating type of celestial object. They are too large to be considered planets, yet too small to undergo the fusion process necessary to become fully-fledged stars.

One such brown dwarf, named WISEP J193518.59–154620.3 (or W1935 for short), is believed to be observable from Earth, especially towards the north and south poles. Astronomers suspect that it may exhibit an aurora similar to the mesmerizing aurora borealis, but on a much brighter scale.

Research featured in the journal Nature utilized NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study W1935. This brown dwarf is relatively close to us in the galaxy, approximately 47 light-years away from Earth.

Upon pointing a space telescope the size of a tennis court towards the brown dwarf, researchers noticed a peculiar glow emanating from it.

“We were expecting to detect methane as it’s abundant in these brown dwarfs. However, instead of absorbing light, we found methane emitting light,” stated Dr. Jackie Faherty, the lead author of the study. “My initial reaction was, ‘What’s going on? Why is this object emitting methane?'”

Co-author Dr. Ben Burningham mentioned to BBC Science Focus that in the search for alien auroras in objects like W1935, astronomers traditionally focused on emissions from other gases found higher up in the object’s atmosphere.

“Methane emissions were not anticipated to be significant, but now it appears to be a significant factor,” he added.

Computer modeling of W1935 to elucidate the unusual methane emissions revealed a surprising temperature inversion, where the atmosphere gets warmer with increasing altitude. This phenomenon is common for planets orbiting stars but unexpected for an isolated object like W1935 without an apparent external heat source.

Further investigation led researchers to compare W1935 with Jupiter and Saturn from our solar system, which also exhibit methane emissions and temperature inversions.

The observed features in the solar system giants are attributed to auroras, luminous phenomena generated when energetic particles interact with the planet’s magnetic field and atmosphere.

Auroras are known to heat the upper atmosphere of planets, aligning with the researchers’ findings regarding W1935.

However, a missing element in the puzzle was the source of particles causing high-energy auroras in our solar system, which stem from the sun and travel as solar wind. Since W1935 is a rogue star without a host star, solar wind was ruled out as a possible explanation.

Scientists hypothesize that an undiscovered active satellite could be generating the alien aurora observed in W1935, akin to moons around Jupiter and Saturn that expel material into space enhancing the gas giants’ auroras.

“W1935 presents an intriguing expansion of solar system phenomena without any stellar illumination to clarify it,” Faherty remarked. “With Webb, we can delve into the chemistry and unravel the similarities or differences in auroral processes beyond our solar system.”

About our experts

Jackie Faherty is a senior scientist and education manager at the American Museum of Natural History, focusing on detecting and characterizing brown dwarfs and exoplanets. She advocates for increasing diversity in STEM fields through her unique outreach efforts.

Ben Burningham is an Associate Professor and Head of Outreach at the University of Hertfordshire, specializing in brown dwarfs, substellar objects, and superplanets. Burningham has contributed to research published in the Astrophysical Journal, Nature, and Astronomical Journal.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com