Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery by observing an aging star consuming a Jupiter-sized planet, providing insight into the future of our Sun. In approximately 5 billion years, the Sun will undergo a similar transformation, expanding into a red giant and potentially absorbing planets like Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth. The study, published in Nature, describes how the star, after exhausting its core fuel, swelled and engulfed its nearby planet, shrinking its orbit until it was consumed. This celestial event, termed ZTF SLRN-2020, was detected using ground-based observatories and NASA’s NEOWISE spacecraft. The star brightened significantly following the merger, indicating that the planet’s descent dragged hot gas from the star, which cooled and turned into observable dust in space. This remarkable finding underscores the significance of continuous sky observations, showing that many mid-sized stars likely consume nearby planets, an event that is predicted but rarely observed. The data collected by NEOWISE, which performed extensive sky scans, helped confirm the sequence of events leading to this planetary demise. As astronomers continue to analyze this and similar phenomena, they hope to understand more about the fates of other stars and their potential planetary systems.
