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.

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.

The astronomers spotted the planet using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an MIT-led mission that monitors the nearest stars for transits, or periodic dips in starlight that could be signs of orbiting exoplanets. The signal that tipped the astronomers off was a peculiar transit, with a dip that fluctuated in depth every orbit.