“Sun-Like Star Swallows Planet: Evidence of Earth’s Fate”

Jakarta –

Sun and all stars also have a lifetime that will end someday, swallowing up planets orbiting them. Astronomers have seen the first evidence of a sun-like star dying and swallowing a planet, in what could be a picture of its ultimate fate Earth.

The cataclysmic event, located some 13,000 light years away, was observed using the Gemini South telescope in Chile. Such a sight occurs when stars, similar to the Sun, are nearing the end of their lives.

The dying star expands to 1,000 times its normal size and turns into a ‘red giant’. Finally, they swallowed up the inner planet of their Solar System. These events occur several times a year in the Milky Way Galaxy, but have never been seen to occur directly until now.

Astronomers watched the star grow to about 100 times brighter in just 10 days before fading. Then there was a longer lasting cold signal arriving on Earth. It may be the last traces of a planet swallowed up by its star.

Published in the journal Nature, astronomers reveal how imaging technology on Gemini South and archived infrared data from NASA’s space telescope were used to identify the event, which has been dubbed ZTF SLRN-2020.

As quoted detikINET from Sky News, the star is estimated to be between 0.8 and 1.5 times the mass of our Sun. While exoplanets that are swallowed are 1 to 10 times the mass of Jupiter.

Scientists say the same thing will likely happen to our Solar System, where the Sun will eventually devour Earth in the same way, along with Mercury and Venus. But don’t worry, it’s estimated that this event will only happen in 5 billion years.

“We are looking at the future of the Earth. If there were other civilizations that observed us from a distance of 10,000 light years when the sun engulfed the earth, they would see the sun suddenly brighten when it released some material, then formed dust around it,” said Dr. Kishalay De from MIT.

Watch Video “A Rare Phenomenon Hybrid Solar Eclipse Will Occur Today“

(fyk/agt)