KIC 12557548 b

A tiny planet locked in a very short orbit in the KIC 12557548 system, this rocky world is evaporating under the blistering heat of the star. A long tail of debris — almost like a comet's tail — is following KIC 12557548 b as it whirls around the star KIC 12557548. According to calculations, the planet will completely disintegrate within 100 million years.

The orbital period is just 15 standard hours — one of the shortest planet orbits observed. The planet is heated by its orange-hot parent star to a temperature of about 1,982 degrees C (3,600 degrees F.) Rocky material at the surface of the planet melts and evaporates at such high temperatures, forming a wind that carries both gas and dust into space. Dense clouds of the dust trail the planet as it speeds around its star. The dust, made up of submicron-sized particles, is densest immediately surrounding the planet, thinning out as it trails away.

At such a rate, the planet will eventually completely disintegrate.