For the first time, scientists have caught a star in the act of swallowing a planet.
Astronomers on Wednesday reported their observations of what appears to be a gas giant at least the size of Jupiter being eaten by its star, shown in this illustration.For the first time, scientists have caught a star in the act of swallowing a planet — not just a nibble or bite, but one big gulp.
This galactic feast happened between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago near the Aquila constellation when the star was around 10 billion years old. As the planet went down the stellar hatch, there was a swift hot outburst of light, followed by a long-lasting stream of dust shining brightly in cold infrared energy, the researchers said.
Given a star’s lifetime of billions of years, the swallow itself was quite brief — occurring in essentially one fell swoop, said Caltech’s Mansi Kasliwal, who was part of the study.
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