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Doomed exoplanet spiraling toward obliteration

For the first time, astronomers have spotted an exoplanet whose orbit is decaying around an evolved, or older, host star. The stricken world appears destined to spiral closer and closer to its maturing star until collision and ultimate obliteration. Theory predicts that evolved stars are very effective at sapping energy from their planets’ orbits, and now we can test those theories with observations.