This exoplanet is being bombarded with radiation by its giant star. This hints our Earth will...

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has now spotted anexoplanet whichhas left astronomers puzzled.

It has been observed that this planet remained in its atmosphere even after getting mercilessly bombarded with radiation from its red giant parent star. This star is also smaller, older and hotter than what was earlier believed by scientists to be possible for such a planet.

The extrasolar planet, or "exoplanet" in reality should be a bare husk of rock because of its proximity to the star TIC 365102760 which is located approximately 1,800 light-years away from Earth.

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This strange world, which has been nicknamed "Phoenix," has come out from the flames of its host star which has a nice andpuffy atmosphere.

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Phoenix, officially designated as TIC 365102760 b, is part of a rare class of planets known as "hot Neptunes". These are the kind of dark worlds which have radii which is smaller compared to that of Jupiter, however, larger than the Earth.

According to the scientists, the planet will spiral into its giant star for nearly 100 million years.

The discovery of Phoenix has shown that different kinds of exoplanetsexist across the universe and has demonstrated that a planetary system is able to evolve in many ways.

"This planet isn't evolving the way we thought it would. It appears to have a much bigger, less dense atmosphere than we expected for these systems," said team leader and Johns Hopkins University astrophysicist Sam Grunblatt, in a statement.

"How it held on to that atmosphere despite being so close to such a large host star is the big question," he added.

Here's what this hellish planet tells us about Earth's fate

TIC 365102760 is atype of red giant star which has spent nearly 10 billion years converting hydrogen to helium present at its core.

Once the hydrogen fuel needed for thenuclear fusionprocess was exhausted, the energy which was supporting the star against its own gravity would have had ended.

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Then the core of the star would have collapsed while its outer layers, where nuclear fusion is still taking place, should have swelled to around 100 times the star's original width.

"It's the smallest planet we've ever found around one of these red giants and probably the lowest mass planet orbiting a [red] giant star we've ever seen," said Grunblatt.

"That's why it looks really weird. We don't know why it still has an atmosphere when other 'hot Neptunes' that are much smaller and much denser seem to be losing their atmospheres in much less extreme environments," he added.

The findings of Phoenix have helped scientists understand what will happen to the atmosphere of Earth before it meets its final fate.

"We don't understand the late-stage evolution of planetary systems very well. This is telling us that maybeEarth's atmospherewon't evolve exactly how we thought it would," Grunblatt said.

(With inputs from agencies)