Doomed Exoplanet TOI-2109b Spirals Toward Its Star with Three Possible Fates

The gas giant TOI-2109b, over five times Jupiter’s mass, is spiraling closer to its star in a rare planetary death spiral. With a 16-hour orbit and blistering heat, the exoplanet could either plunge into its host star, be torn apart by tidal forces, or evolve into a rocky super-Earth through photoevaporation. NASA’s TESS and ESA’s Cheops data confirm its orbit is decaying by 10 seconds every 3 years. TOI-2109b’s extreme case offers astronomers a powerful chance to study how gas giants die—or transform—revealing secrets of planetary evolution across the galaxy.