Sun-Like Star Devours Exoplanets: Evidence Found for the First Time by Astronomers

For the first time, astronomers have found evidence of a Sun-like star dying and devouring exoplanets.

What’s found? Scientists observed long, low-energy bursts coming from the star, a sign of a planet sliding near the star’s surface. The observations were made with the Gemini South Telescope operated by NOIRLab in Chile.

The star explosion occurred in the Milky Way at a distance of nearly 13,000 light years from Earth. Far away, but why should Mercury, Venus and Earth be on their guard? Come on, let’s find out.

Stars like the Sun grow by fusing hydrogen atoms in the hot, dense interior of the star to form helium. This process we know as the process of nuclear fusion. The processes that occur inside the star make the star stable and not crushed by the heavy outer layers of the star. When the Hydrogen at the center of the star is used up, the nuclear reactions begin to shift to the star’s outer layers. As a result, this layer expands and grows larger. Meanwhile, at the center of the star nuclear fusion reactions are still occurring and turning Helium into Carbon. At this time, the star will age and expand to become a red giant.

In about five billion years, the Sun will turn into a red giant! The parent star in the Solar System will grow to be very large just before its death. When the Sun ages and expands to become a red giant, this star that illuminates Earth will devour any nearby inner planets, including Earth!

When a star devours a planet, there is an interesting spectacle, namely an explosion of energy and matter which causes the planet to be detached from its orbit and fall into the star. Astronomers managed to photograph this event while it was happening!

The challenge is that it’s not easy to recognize whether the explosion astronomers saw came from a planet that was being devoured or from a solar flare or coronal mass ejection. Fortunately, the optical technology in the Gemini South Telescope can provide astronomers with important data to confirm these observations as engulfing planets by stars. This event is given the name or code ZTF SLRN-2020.

With these results, astronomers can use better techniques to search for similar events in the cosmos. Thus, the missing link to understanding what happened in the later stages of a planetary system like the Solar System can be found.

Cool Facts

These long duration, low energy fireworks last 100 days. Astronomers’ calculations show that the ejected material is composed of hydrogen weighing 33 Earth masses. Meanwhile, the weight of the dust ejected is 1/3 of the mass of our Earth. For a star devouring a planet, its mass is twice the mass of the Sun and the planet being devoured weighs 10 times the mass of Jupiter!

Source: This article is a republished version developed from Indonesian edition of Space Scoop Universe Awareness. The Indonesian edition of Space Scoop is translated by Langitselatan.

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