Scientists witness planet being swallowed by sun-like star, says same will happen to Earth
Scientists have observed a Sun-like star swallowing a planet for the first time, confirming a prediction that Earth will face the same fate in 5 billion years.
Scientists at MIT in collaboration with Harvard University and Caltech have observed some hints of stars just before, and shortly after, the act of consuming entire planets, but they have never caught one in the act until now.
Published in the journal, 'Nature', the planetary extinction appears to have occurred in our own galaxy, around 12,000 light-years away, near the eagle-like constellation Aquila. Astronomers discovered an outburst from a star that grew more than 100 times brighter in just 10 days before rapidly fading away. This white-hot flash was strangely followed by a colder, longer-lasting signal. The scientists calculated that this combination could only have resulted from one event: a star devouring a nearby planet.
"We were seeing the end-stage of the swallowing," said lead author Kishalay De, a postdoc in MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.
The scientists have estimated that it was likely a hot, Jupiter-sized world that spiraled close, then was pulled into the dying star's atmosphere, and, finally, into its core.
A similar fate will befall the Earth, though not for another 5 billion years when the sun is expected to burn out and burn up the solar system's inner planets.
"We are seeing the future of the Earth," De said.
"If some other civilization was observing US from 10,000 light-years away while the sun was engulfing the Earth, they would see the sun suddenly brighten as it ejects some material, then form dust around it, before settling back to what it was," De added.
The study's MIT co-authors include Deepto Chakrabarty,
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