This Wednesday the Nature magazine warned about a particular phenomenon that has taken place in our own galaxy, about
12,000 light years away
, near the constellation of the Eagle.
A star devoured a planet
the size of Jupiter
.
Astronomers detected the outburst of a star that
multiplied its brightness by 100 in just 10 days
and
then quickly faded again.
The fiery flash was followed by a longer, colder signal.
The combination caused the star
to absorb a planet
, that is, after running out of fuel in its core, it began to grow in size, reduced the difference with the planet and finally devoured it.
The study in Nature explains: "Planets with short orbital periods (approximately less than 10 days) are common around stars like the Sun. Stars expand as they evolve, and therefore we expect their planetary companions to nearby ones are engulfed, possibly causing luminous mass ejections from the host star. However, this phase
has never been directly observed
."
The researchers discovered the event using multiple ground-based observatories and
NASA's
Neowise (Near-Earth Object Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft , which is managed by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Will the end of the world be like this?
Astronomer Cristian Giuppone told Clarín, this phenomenon has been suspected for a long time, "because there are a large number of planets that revolve around other stars with very short orbital periods of approximately 10 days
.
"
“In particular, when the star is large or changing its size, it can produce effects that
drag the planet towards the star
.
There were many studies that tried to identify what these roads were like, but this event had never been observed.
What the article managed to decipher is the exact moment where the planet is cannibalized by the star”, she detailed.
“They observe the light of the stars in
different wavelengths
and this allowed them to identify the moment of the peak, which is when the star cannibalizes the planet.
Then they saw how that peak slowly decreased over time.
The stars are the central body of the planets, the planets revolve around them, it is the central body and that is why when it expands it eats everything around it”, he completed.
Now, is it possible to think of an end of the world with these characteristics?
For the astronomer,
the same will happen with the Sun
when it enters its red giant stage, its last stage of life, where
it will not only eat Earth
, but also Mercury, Venus and even Mars.
"The event will happen in 5,000 million years," the astronomer clarified.
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