Telescopes Spot Exoplanets Shedding Layers

Astronomers have directly observed two exoplanets shedding their outer layers into space. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observed a Neptune-sized rocky exoplanet, K2-22b, orbiting its star in just nine hours. Its surface temperature reaches over 3,320 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to vaporize rock, forming a comet-like tail. JWST detected gases like carbon dioxide and nitric oxide, typically associated with icy bodies. Another exoplanet, BD+054868AB, was discovered by the Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). It is the closest evaporating exoplanet found to Earth. BD+054868AB is estimated to lose the mass of a moon every million years and is expected to cease to exist in 1 to 2 million years.