Astronomers found a unique world, but it is doomed – study

Italian astronomers have discovered the exoplanet HD 176071b, which is 50% water but doomed to destruction due to its proximity to its star.

A team of Italian astronomers from the National Institute of Astrophysics has detected a unique exoplanet, HD 176071b, located 335 light-years from Earth. This world is half water: its low average density indicates that up to 50% of the planet's volume is water. With a radius 2.5 times that of Earth, its mass is about 8.5 times greater. Due to extreme pressure and heat, the water exists in supercritical states, far from familiar liquid form. The planet orbits at a record close distance from its star—less than 2.4 million kilometers. Its year lasts only 14 Earth hours. The star's gravitational pull creates powerful tidal forces that relentlessly disrupt its orbit, and in the distant future, the planet will be completely consumed by the star.