Scientists say that the images and data collected while observing this cosmic event will help discover other examples of planets and stars colliding in near space.
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A flash inside the Milky Way (simulated image)
American astronomers recorded for the first time a flash within the Milky Way galaxy, which arose as a result of the collision of a planet with a star in the constellation Eagle, and the subsequent absorption of the remnants of the destroyed world by this star.
This was announced by the press service of the Association of Universities that conducts astronomical research.
Read also: A strange and huge discovery in the Milky Way
Kechalay D, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: “We have witnessed what awaits Earth in the distant future. If the inhabitants of other planets observe this process from a similar distance, about 10 thousand light years, they will also see a bright flash on the surface of the sun, as if “It suddenly throws part of its matter into space. And then they will see how a giant cloud of dust will appear around the star.”
For the first time, astronomers observed a star consuming a planet
— Harvard University (@Harvard) May 8, 2023
Over the past two decades, astronomers have discovered more than 10,000 planets orbiting distant stars, including Earth-like planets and other worlds in the solar system. Much of these outer worlds are located at a very short distance from their stars, and as a result we see them doomed to be destroyed more often by stars as they age into red giants.”
As Kechalay D and his colleagues explain, the death of these worlds will come because temperatures in the cores of all sun-like stars gradually rise as their hydrogen reserves are depleted. This leads to a gradual expansion of the outer limits of the star and the absorption of nearby planets. And our planet and other planets await a similar fate, according to most astronomers, after the passage of about 7-7.5 billion years.
Astronomers have seen the first direct glimpse of the planetary engulfment process that most likely awaits Earth in the deep future. This artist’s concept shows what happens when a 10 billion-year-old star gobbles up a gas giant planet. pic.twitter.com/oIGfhKh1SR
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 4, 2023
Subsequent analysis of images of the star, taken at the time of the flash’s formation, indicated that the sharp increase in the star’s brightness was accompanied by an ejection of material whose total mass was about 33-34 times that of Earth. The researchers hypothesized that such an expulsion of matter resulted from the star’s collision with a Jupiter-sized planet and the subsequent destruction of this outer world.
Dee and his colleagues said the images and data collected while observing this cosmic event will help astronomers discover other examples of planets and stars colliding in near space.
The discovery’s authors concluded that their observations would allow scientists to determine how often sun-like stars destroy nearby planets.
