Strange planet discovered that causes plasma explosions on its parent star
Strange planet discovered that causes plasma explosions on its parent star
A young planet named HIP 67522 causes violent eruptions on its star, dramatically accelerating the loss of its own atmosphere.
Because the planet’s orbit is just seven days long, the gravitational forces from this orbital path tug at the star until plasma erupts from the surface...Heat causes the air to swell, increasing the cross‑section that stellar ultraviolet rays can hit, and leading to a vicious cycle that accelerates mass loss.
If the current pace holds, HIP 67522 b could shed enough hydrogen and helium to shrink into a mini‑Neptune within 100 million years.
It may even become a bare, rocky core after that. Such transformations explain why many mature planetary systems harbor small sub‑Neptunes while very close giant planets are rarer.
Similar run‑away erosion may have sculpted planets like CoRoT‑7 b, where today only a scorched super‑Earth remains...