Two years ago, Astronomers think they have detected a star devouring one of his planets. Now, new observations of the consequences of the same event in the James Webb space telescope have suggested a scenario previously considered only in the fields of science fiction: that a planet on the size of Jupiter is self-destruction by heading directly in his parent star. Scientists responsible for observation think they have witnessed the first “planetary suicide” in history.
The only way noted for a star to consume its own planets is that the star increases considerably in size. This happens when a Main sequence starLike our sun, lack of hydrogen to merge and inflate its original size several times, become a red giant. Experts study this process with interest because the solar system itself is likely to face it. In about 5 billion years, after having exhausted hydrogen in its nucleus, the sun will extend its current radius 100 times, devouring neighboring planets such as Mercury and Venus in the process.
When a star absorbs a planet, observatories on earth detect an increase in its brightness, although that of short duration. Such a moment of clarification is known as a Nova.
In 2023, the Gemini South observatory observed at 12,000 Nova-Années-Lumière. He was initially suspected of being a red giant consuming one of his neighboring planets. However, two years later, a more detailed analysis with the infrared instrument of the James Webb space telescope revealed that the star was still in its main sequence phase, merging hydrogen – the star had not aged and extended to be a red giant. These new proofs suggest that the young star's Nova was caused by its impact by a body the size of the size of Jupiter.
According to a recent study published in the Astrophysical JournalThis Nova is the most convincing direct detection of a planet consumed by its host star. The same researchers had already applied that this Nova was proof of a planet engulfed in another report, published in Nature A few years ago. But in the new study, the team added more evidence of that of the signs of a swallowing, having carried out a spectroscopy of the star – that is to say the analysis of the visible light and other radiations which he issued – 820 days after his brightness of peak.
This provided new data on the brightness of the star and ejected dust debris, and gave the team of astronomers a better idea of what could have happened in this solar system. They believe that a planet of the size of Jupiter, in orbit at the same distance as the mercury made from the sun, gradually approached its star until it is destroyed by the outer layers of the star.
Regarding evidence allows us to know, the planets moving towards their star, towards destruction, are not common. Scientists believe that the process may have been triggered by the same phenomenon which generates tides on earth – the gravitational attraction of other celestial bodies nearby (which in the case of the earth is the moon and the sun). During millions of years, the gravitational forces exerted by the star would have extracted part of the orbital energy from the planet, drawing it from its stable path to the host star. In the end, the planet would have been too close to maintain its structural integrity.
The whole scientific community is not convinced by this explanation. One of the main counter-hypotheses says that the star looks young, because it could be surrounded by a dense cloud of stellar dust, attenuating its brightness. If it turns out that the age or type of star is different from what is supposed, then there can be another explanation for the Nova.
New measurements with more powerful telescopes will better measure the brightness of this star and, hopefully, will provide more evidence regarding what has happened. It is also possible that more “suicide” planets are in the future in other places, revealing that the scenario is more common than you think.
This story originally appeared on Cable in Spanish and was translated from Spanish.
