This strange exoplanet, located 140 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Pegasus, appears to be rapidly falling apart. Its blistering host star is so close, the radiation is effectively melting it down, leaving behind a long tail of dust.

By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Astronomers have spotted a small rocky planet that orbits perilously close to its host star disintegrating as its surface is vaporized by stellar heat, trailed by a comet-like tail of mineral dust up to about 5.

At such close proximity to its star, the planet is likely covered in magma boiling off into space. As the roasting planet whizzes around its star, it is shedding an enormous amount of surface minerals and effectively evaporating away, leaving a debris tail behind it.