The existence of the newly discovered Earth-sized blazing hot planet Kepler-78b has left scientists baffled as it's impossible for such a planet to form so close to a star or even move into the position it currently is in.
Astronomers from all over the world are always on the lookout for Earth-sized planets in space. However, the discovery of one such exoplanet has left scientists baffled. Though Kepler-78b is Earth-sized, it's too hot to have ever sustained life, some scientists have described it as "hell on earth". This scorching lava world has one of the tightest orbits known, circling its star every eight and a half hours at a distance of less than one million miles. What scientists don't understand is how it formed so close to its star as according to current planet formation theories, it's not possible for a planet so hot and nor could it have moved so close.
"This planet is a complete mystery," said astronomer David Latham of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "We don't know how it formed or how it got to where it is today. What we do know is that it's not going to last forever. Kepler-78b is going to end up in the star very soon, astronomically speaking."
Not only is the newly discovered planet earth-sized, it also has the same density as our planet. It is 20 times larger than the Earth and has a diameter of 9,200 miles. It also weighs twice as much as our planet. Its similar density suggests an Earth-like composition of iron and rocks.
The tight orbit of Kepler-78b has posed as a great mystery for astronomers too. The star the planetary system now orbits was much bigger when the system began forming; suggesting Kepler-78b's orbit was located within the swollen star. The planet orbits a Sun-like G-type star located 400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
"It couldn't have formed in place because you can't form a planet inside a star. It couldn't have formed further out and migrated inward, because it would have migrated all the way into the star. This planet is an enigma," explained CfA astronomer Dimitar Sasselov.
According to Latham, Kepler-78b is a member of a new class of planets recently identified in data from NASA's Kepler spacecraft. These newfound worlds all orbit their stars within periods of less than 12 hours. Kepler-78b is the first planet in the new class to have its mass measured.
The future of Kepler-78b doesn't look too bright either. Gravitational waves will pull the planet closer to its star, finally ripping it apart. According to scientists, this will happen within three billion years. They also found that our very own solar system is also capable of hosting such a planet. However, even if it did, the planet would have been ripped apart long ago, leaving no signs of its existence.
