Dying Star Swallowing A Planet Observed by Scientists for 1st Time

For the first time in the history of astrophysics, scientists observed the phenomenon when a dying star consumed a planet.  The size of this star was like that of the sun. The planet which was swallowed up by the dying star was like that of Jupiter. The Sun-like star was around 10 billion years old.

While astronomers have previously observed other stars before and after such an event, this is the first time the swallow itself was observed, according to the study published in Nature.

Astronomers said it appeared as a white-hot flash, followed by a longer-lasting colder signal, which they said was caused by a star engulfing the planet.

The event took place around 12,000 light-years away in the Aquila constellation. It took the researchers a year to understand what the white-hot flash meant.

According to CNN, this rare phenomenon was observed by a team of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, and the California Institute of Technology.

According to scientists, in the distant future, the same thing will happen with our mother earth. The Sun in its last days of existence will transform into a red giant and will gobble up the four inner planets of the solar system.

According to the researchers, the process sees the bigger star puffing up with old age and growing to a million times its original size as it runs out of fuel, engulfing all the planets around it.