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These tides not only distort the shape of WASP-12b. By continuously deforming the planet, they also create friction in its interior. The friction produces heat, which causes the planet to expand. "This is the first time that there is direct evidence that internal heating (or 'tidal heating') is responsible for puffing up the planet to its current size," said Lin.
Huge as it is, WASP-12b faces an early demise, Lin said. In fact, its size is part of its problem. It has ballooned to such a point that it cannot retain its mass against the pull of its parent star's gravity. As the study's lead author Li explained, "WASP-12b is losing its mass to the host star at a tremendous rate of six billion metric tons each second. At this rate, the planet will be completely destroyed by its host star in about ten million years. This may sound like a long time, but for astronomers it's nothing. This planet will live less than 500 times less than the current age of the Earth."
The material that is stripped off WASP-12b does not directly fall onto the parent star. Instead, it forms a disk around the star and slowly spirals inwards. A careful analysis of the orbital motion of WASP-12b suggests circumstantial evidence of the gravitational force of a second, lower-mass planet in the disk. This planet is most likely a massive version of the Earth--a so-called "super-Earth."
The disk of planetary material and the embedded super-Earth are detectable with currently available telescope facilities. Their properties can be used to further constrain the history and fate of the mysterious planet WASP-12b.
In addition to KIAA, support for the WASP-12b research came from NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the National Science Foundation. Along with Li and Lin, co-authors include Jonathan Fortney, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC, and UCSC graduate student Neil Miller.

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