The centre of energy that holds our solar system, the Sun, if explodes or dies might cause mayhem in our planetary system. In deep space, scientists and astronomers have discovered such activities of the celestial body, the dead star, that destroys the planetary system it’s a part of.
The Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed evidence of a dead star devouring elements of the planets from its system such as rocky-metallic and icy material found in both inner and outer systems.
The catastrophic star is labelled a white dwarf, G238-44. Astronomers are working to find what factors motivated this violent nature as well as search for newly formed systems. White dwarfs are what is left after their outer layer falls and has exhausted its fuel through nuclear fusion. Astronomers have also found small icy objects to crash into dry, rocky planets, making their way onto our solar system.
“We have never seen both of these kinds of objects accreting onto a white dwarf at the same time”, stated Ted Johnson, the lead researcher and a recent graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. “By studying these white dwarfs, we hope to gain a better understanding of the planetary system that is still intact”, he continues.
The phase of conversion of the red giant star into a white dwarf is considered a turbulent process by the theories of planetary evolution. The star sheds its outer layers changing its orbital path. Asteroids, dwarf planets and other small objects can come close to giant planets and get attracted to the star.
Scientists confirm this catastrophic phase to take place within 100 million years after the inception of the white dwarf phase when the star would devour matters of the asteroid belts and Kuiper belt regions. An obvious consequence of this cosmic phenomenon can be the small objects being scattered by larger planets.
Scientists have predicted the evolution of the Sun to occur around 5 billion years from current times might vaporize the Earth entirely, also taking the inner planets with it. Despite this, Jupiter might disturb the asteroids of the main asteroid belt gravitationally, leading it to fall onto the white dwarf.
In addition, Ted Johnson explains, “after the red giant star that remains is compact no larger than Earth. The wayward planets end up getting very close to the star and experience powerful tidal forces that tear them apart, creating a gaseous and dusty disk that eventually falls onto the white dwarf’s surface.” These results were presented at a press conference held by the American Astronomical Society (AAS).
