Scientists believe that for the first time they witnessed “planetary suicide”

Two years ago, Astronomers believe that they have detected a star devouring one of their planets. Now recent observations of the consequences of the same event with the Space Telescope James Webba have suggested a script previously considered only in the field of science fiction: that the planet with the size of Jupiter self -destinated by directing straight to the mother star. Scientists responsible for observation believe that they witnessed the first “planetary suicide” in history.

The only known way for which the star eats its own planets is to significantly escalate the size of the star. This happens when Main sequenceLike our sun, there will be no hydrogen to connect and swells to its original size many times, becomes a red giant. Experts study this process with interest, because the solar system itself can face it. In about 5 billion years, after hydrogen in its core, the sun will expand to the 100 -weekly radius, devouring nearby planets, such as Mercury and Venus.

When the star absorbs the planet, observatories on Earth detect an escalate in their clarity, though miniature -lived. Such a moment of brightening is known as Nova.

In 2023, the Gemini South Observatory observed 12,000 years Nova. Initially, it was suspected that he was a red giant absorbing one of his nearby planets. However, two years later, a more detailed analysis with the infrared instrument of James Webba Space Telescope revealed that the star was still in the main phase of the sequence, combining hydrogen – the star did not age and expanded to the red giant. This recent evidence suggests that Nova of the teenage star was caused by the touch of her body the size of Jupiter.

According to recent studies published in Astrophysical JournalTa Nova is the most convincing direct detection of the planet consumed by the host star. The same researchers have already stated that Ta Nova was proof that the planet was absorbed in another report published in Nature A few years ago. But in a recent study, the team added more evidence that this is signs of absorption, conducting the spectroscopy of the star – that is, the analysis of perceptible lithe and other radiation that he emitted – 820 days after its peak brightness.

This provided recent data on the brightness of the star and the thrown out remnants of dust and gave a team of astronomers a better idea of ​​what could happen in this solar system. They believe that the planet of the size of Jupiter, circling the same distance as Mercury from the sun, gradually approached her star until it was destroyed by the external layers of the star.

As for the evidence that allows us to know, the planets heading towards their star towards destruction are not common. Scientists estimate that this process may have been caused by the same phenomenon that produces tides on earth – the gravitational pull of other nearby blue bodies (which is the moon and sun in the case of earth). For millions of years, gravitational forces exerted by the star would bring out a part of the planet’s orbital energy, pulling it out of a stable path towards the host star. Ultimately, the planet would circulate too close to maintain structural integrity.

Not the entire scientific community is convinced by this explanation. One of the main counter-hypotheses says that the star looks only teenage, because it can be surrounded by a dense cloud of star dust, suppressing his brightness. If it turns out that the age or type of star differs from hypothesia, there may be a different explanation of Nova.

Modern measurements with stronger telescopes will better measure the brightness of this star and I hope that it will provide more evidence for what happened. It is also possible that more “suicide” planets can be found in the future in other places, revealing that the script is more common than thought.

This story originally appeared Wired in Spanish and was translated from Spanish.