Summary:
- Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet, a planet outside our solar system, that is shedding a massive amount of material from its atmosphere every time it orbits its host star.
- This exoplanet, called WASP-12b, is losing the equivalent of Mount Everest's worth of material every 36 hours, leaving behind a comet-like tail.
- The intense gravitational forces and radiation from the host star are stripping away the planet's atmosphere, suggesting that WASP-12b may eventually be completely destroyed.