Coventry. How will our solar system end? This is an important question about which researchers have speculated a lot, using our knowledge of physics to create complex theoretical models. We do know that the Sun will eventually turn into a “white dwarf”, the remnant of a burning star whose dim light will gradually turn into darkness. This change will not be so easy, but it will be a fiery process in which its unknown number of planets will be destroyed.
So which planets will survive the Sun’s death? One way to find the answer is to look at what happened to other similar planets. However, it has proved difficult. The weak radiation from white dwarfs makes it difficult to find exoplanets (planets around stars other than our Sun) that have survived this stellar transformation – they are literally in darkness that is not easy to see.
In fact, of the more than 4,500 exoplanets currently known, only a few have been found around stars that have transformed into white dwarfs – and the location of these planets suggests that they arrived after the star’s death. This lack of information gives an incomplete picture of the fate of our planet. Luckily, now we are able to fill these gaps.
In our new paper, published in Nature, we report the discovery of the first known exoplanet that survives the death of its star without being altered by other nearby planets in their orbit. It orbits the distance between the Sun and the planets of the Solar System.
planet like jupiter
This new outer planet (exoplanet) we discovered with the Keck Observatory in Hawaii is similar to Jupiter in mass and orbital separation, providing important clues about planets that may survive around dying stars. The transformation of a star into a white dwarf involves a fiery phase in which it becomes a bloated “red giant”, also known as a “giant branch” star, that is hundreds of times larger than before. We believe that only this outer planet has survived: if it was initially close to its parent star, it would have been absorbed into the star’s expansion.
When the Sun eventually becomes a ‘red giant’, its radius will actually extend outwards into Earth’s current orbit. This means that the Sun (probably) Mercury and Venus, and possibly the Earth will also be included in it, but we cannot say anything for sure.
Jupiter and its moons were expected to survive, although we didn’t know for sure before. But with the discovery of this new exoplanet, we can now be more certain that Jupiter will indeed pass by. In addition, the margin of error in the position of this exoplanet could mean that it is about half the distance from the White Dwarf as Jupiter is currently closer to the Sun. If so, then there is additional evidence to believe that Jupiter and Mars will be able to survive in the fiery process of change.
Asteroids and White Dwarfs
Planets orbiting White Dwarfs have been difficult to find, but asteroids that break close to its surface have become much easier. To get so close to a White Dwarf, they need to be sufficiently accelerated by a living exoplanet. Therefore, exosteroids have long been considered evidence that exoplanets also exist. Our search finally confirms this.
The link between exosteroids and exoplanets also applies to our own solar system. Separate objects in the asteroid main belt and the Kuiper belt (a disk in the outer Solar System) are likely to have survived the Sun’s death, but some will be gravitationally sent by one of the surviving planets toward the surface of the White Dwarf.
The diversity of discovery techniques bodes well for the identification of potential futures, which may provide further insight into the fate of our own planet. For the time being, a recently discovered exoplanet like Jupiter provides the clearest glimpse of our future.
The post Detected Planet Continuing Existence Despite Dying Star appeared first on Navabharat.