Star swallows planet in one gulp — a preview of Earth’s fate, astronomers say

What appeared to be a gas giant at least the size of Jupiter was suddenly consumed.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — 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.

“If it’s any consolation, this will happen in about 5 billion years,” said co-author Morgan MacLeod of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Kishalay De spotted the luminous outburst in 2020 while reviewing sky scans taken by the California Institute of Technology’s Palomar Observatory. It took additional observations and data-crunching to unravel the mystery: Instead of a star gobbling up its companion star, this one had devoured its planet.

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