Kepler-1520 b

Kepler-1520 b

Planet· orbits the Sun

Kepler-1520 b — a DISINTEGRATING planet: a small rocky world (no larger than Mercury) so fiercely heated (~1,400 K) that its surface is vaporising and streaming away as a comet-like tail of dust. Its transits vary wildly in depth because what crosses the star is a shifting DUST CLOUD, not a solid disc — so the apparent ~5.8-Earth-radius 'size' is the dust, not the body, and no real radius or mass is quoted. It may fully crumble in ~100 million years. Never imaged — the tail shown is the inferred dust plume, not the unseen body.

Open in 3D viewSee Kepler-1520 b in the live, interactive 3D map

Key facts

Year
15.7 hours
0.65 Earth days
Distance from Kepler-1520
1,929,813 km

Science

Physical

Radius
Not measured

Orbital

Semi-major axis
1,929,813 km
Eccentricity
0
Inclination
0.00 °
Orbital period
15.69 hours
Perihelion
1,929,813 km
Aphelion
1,929,813 km
Mean orbital velocity
215 km/s

Composition

Bulk composition
A small rocky world (thought to be no larger than Mercury) so fiercely heated (~1,400 K) that its surface is vaporising and streaming away as a comet-like tail of dust. Its transits vary wildly in depth because what crosses the star is a changing cloud of dust, not a solid disc — the first clear case of a planet caught actively disintegrating. It may fully crumble in perhaps ~100 million years. The comet-like dust tail shown here is the phenomenon inferred from that variable transit depth (Rappaport et al. 2012), not the unseen body — the planet itself has never been imaged.
Surface appearance
Appearance based on NASA/JPL-Caltech's artist's concept. No spacecraft has imaged this world, so its real appearance is unknown — The surface shown is an artistic representation, shown only in Vision mode; Realism shows a plain spectral colour.

Radiation & temperature

Insolation
1,306 S⊕ · 1,306× the sunlight Earth receives
Equilibrium temperature
1,437 K (1164 °C)

Discovery & history

Method
Transit detection
Name
A Kepler-mission designation (KIC 12557548 b); no IAU proper name.

Its erratic, ever-changing transit depths (found in Kepler data, 2012) betrayed a trailing cloud of vaporised rock — the first clear case of a planet caught actively disintegrating.

Images

Artist's concept of the disintegrating planet Kepler-1520 b trailing a comet-like tail of vaporised rock — an artist's impression, not a photograph.
NASA / JPL-Caltech (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons

Images from open archives · credit shown per image