In 2008, astronomers discovered a red-hot planet twice the size of Jupiter, spiraling towards its gradual destruction in the bowels of its star. By cosmic standards, this event will occur relatively soon; only three million years, given that the average lifespan of a star is 10 billion years. The planet WASP-12b orbits a yellow dwarf located 1,400 light-years from the Sun.

Scientists previously thought WASP-12b had about 10 million years left, but recent research has shown that the planet will collide with its star much sooner. The doomed planet orbits the yellow dwarf in such a low orbit that it makes one rotation in about one Earth day. The altitude of the orbit does not exceed 3.38 million kilometers, and the gravitational forces acting on the planet are so great that they give it an egg shape. The planet’s surface temperature is approximately 2210°С, which allows WASP-12b to be classified as a “hot Jupiter” type planet.

Until 2018, WASP-12b was considered the hottest planet discovered, but it has now lost this record to Kelt-9b. WASP-12b also had the lowest orbit of any known star system for a long time, but it was surpassed by K2-137b, which orbits a red dwarf at an orbit of just over 800,000 km, about 322 light-years from Earth.

WASP-12b’s rotation period around its star appears to be constantly changing. Previous theories explained this by a change in the planet’s position relative to the Earth and a gradual shift in its orbit. Astronomers collaborating with the Asiago Research on Transit Time Variations of Exoplanets project analyzed 28 observations of the planet from 2010 to 2022 during its motion against the background of the host star.

Research has shown that WASP-12b’s demise in 3 million years will be the result of a phenomenon called “tidal dissipation” and has also revealed signs of extremely high activity in its yellow star. Scientists managed to obtain evidence of the impending death of the dwarf star. For low- to medium-mass stars such as WASP-12, which is about 1.5 times the mass of the Sun, the cessation of hydrogen burning in the core triggers a period of life called the “subgiant phase” during which hydrogen burning moves on. stars in the outer layers

“According to tidal theory, the dispersion we see in the system is too strong to be explained by a main sequence star. This could be easily explained if the star had already left the main sequence and entered the subgiant phase., – believes the head of the study, Pietro Leonardi from the University of Padua. — However, according to our results, the star is still on the main sequence and has not entered the subgiant phase.”

In about 3 million years, when WASP-12b finally sinks into its star, it will cause changes that observers can see from Earth, provided intelligent life still remains on our planet. “When a planet inevitably crashes into a star, the first sign will be a flash of brightness that will make the star hundreds of times brighter than it is today. Leonardi claims. — This increase will not last long and will disappear quickly. But maybe people of the future will be able to see and study it.”

Leonardi believes the results of the WASP-12b study may indicate that other planets of this type may be on a collision course with their host stars. “We have yet to find out whether what we are observing is a unique scenario or a common occurrence in the universe. “, He is confident. Currently, Leonardi, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), is using the ExOPlanet (CHEOPS) satellite to study the rate of decline in the orbits of other hot Jupiters.