A planet ten times the mass of Jupiter found orbiting its star in less than one Earth day could provide a rare glimpse into the final moments of a planet's life.

WASP-18b, so-called because it is the eighteenth planet to be discovered by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP), resides just three stellar radii from its 1.24 solar mass host. Hot jupiter planets like WASP-18b are born far from their parent star and over time spiral inwards to be consumed in the system's central stellar furnace.

For a planet as massive as WASP-18b orbiting so tantalizingly close to its parent star, tidal interactions should destroy the planet well within the next million years. Given that the star itself is around one billion years old, and since planets and stars form together, WASP-18b shares the same age and is now looking death straight in the face. The odds of observing a planet so close to the end of its life, say scientists lead by Coel Hellier of Keele University, is about one in one thousand, meaning that either WASP-18b is in a rare, exceptionally short lived state, or the interaction between star and planet in this system, and perhaps other hot-jupiter systems, is much weaker than in our own Solar System.

The theory of tidal interactions for hot jupiters in close orbits predicts that the tidal bulge on the star raised by the planet drains angular momentum from the planet, causing it to spiral inwards. This is a common outcome when a planet's orbit is shorter than the star's rotation, contrasting with the Earth-Moon system where the longer orbit of the Moon compared to the Earth's spin causes it to recede from the Earth. Hellier's team suggest that in this case, the star may be poor at dissipating tidal energy, which would increase the planet's lifetime, or that interactions with a second planet in the system in the past may have influenced today's state of affairs.

Despite the planet's unknown history, there is some good news. If the orbit of WASP-18b really is decaying rapidly inwards, the effects will become visible within a decade as a detectable change in the time it takes for the planet to transit the star. Eventually the planet will reach the Roche limit – the distance within which the planet's self gravity will be exceeded by the pull of the star – and material will feed onto the star. This act of cosmic cannibalism will spin up the star from a rotation rate of 5.6 days to 0.7 days, giving it a new lease of life as a rapidly rotating star. Heavy elements from the planet's core could contaminate the stellar atmosphere, an effect that has already been seen in the planet-hosting star HD 82943.

Continuous observation of the WASP-18 system, and others, should help reveal the secrets of these curious systems in the not-to-distant future.

The new discovery is published in this week's edition of the journal Nature.

The Planets
From tiny Mercury to distant Neptune and Pluto, The Planets profiles each of the Solar System's members in depth, featuring the latest imagery from space missions. The tallest mountains, the deepest canyons, the strongest winds, raging atmospheric storms, terrain studded with craters and vast worlds of ice are just some of the sights you'll see on this 100-page tour of the planets.
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE

Hubble Reborn
Hubble Reborn takes the reader on a journey through the Universe with spectacular full-colour pictures of galaxies, nebulae, planets and stars as seen through Hubble's eyes, along the way telling the dramatic story of the space telescope, including interviews with key scientists and astronauts.
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE

3D Universe
Witness the most awesome sights of the Universe as they were meant to be seen in this 100-page extravaganza of planets, galaxies and star-scapes, all in 3D!
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE

This special publication features the photography of British astro-imager Nik Szymanek and covers a range of photographic methods from basic to advanced. Beautiful pictures of the night sky can be obtained with a simple camera and tripod before tackling more difficult projects, such as guided astrophotography through the telescope and CCD imaging.
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE

Explore the Universe with these new versions of the award-winning Starry Night Software. Available now from the Astronomy Now Store.
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE

Astronomy Now is pleased to announce the publication of Exploring Mars. The very best images of Mars taken by orbiting spacecraft and NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers fill up the 98 glossy pages of this special edition!
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE

This new poster features some of the best pictures from NASA's amazing Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity.
 U.K. STORE
 E.U. STORE
 U.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE