Scientists Intrigued By Egg Shaped Planet

 

Scientists claim a planet shaped like an egg is hurtling in the direction of its parent star quickly than recently imagined, Space.com reports.

It's known as WASP-12b, and while the presence of an egg planet is lovely, don't get too devoted: once it crash into its parent star, it'll shatter. 

And unfortunately for the exoplanet, a previous — though yet-to-be-peer-reviewed — Paper claims that it might reach its inevitable doom in less time than expected.

According to Space.com, recent calculations have recommended that WASP-12b would have about 10 million years before perishing into its sun's blaze. 

This new finding, though, put forward by a team at Italy's University of Padova, took the exoplanet's leftover lifespan down to just three million years.

"As per our calculations, the planet will collide with the star in just three million years, a very short period of time considering the star only seems to be three billion years old," University of Padova scientist Pietro Leonardi, the chief author of the paper, told Space.com.

As per Space.com, Leonardi and his companions came to their decisions by examining 28 different observations of WASP-12b transiting its home star. 

The observations, collected by the Asiago Observatory in Italy, were taken over a 12-year period varying from 2010 to 2022.

According to NASA, WASP-12b, detected in 2009, is placed roughly 1,200 lightyears from Earth in the constellation Auriga. 

It's about two times the size of our Jupiter, and in fact is considered an "ultra-hot Jupiter," which means it's very hot gas giant— WASP-12b is claimed to have a surface temperature around 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit — that sits too near to its home star.

For context, Earth is near about 93 million miles from the Sun; at a staggeringly low distance of 2.1 million miles, WASP-12b finishes a full orbit in just one day. 

This proximity also describes WASP-12b's egginess, as the gravitational tides it faces are so strong that they've altered the gaseous planet's form.

Just like all good things, though, WASP-12b will one day come to an end. Until then, enjoy the understanding that, beyond our heavens, a massive gaseous egg is orbiting a far away star. 

And once WASP-12b does meet its fiery doom? Consider looking a nice egg to get you during that trying period.