Webb Telescope Uncovers Surprising Truth About a Dying Planet: What Astronomers Misunderstood

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have just made an exciting discovery that changes what we thought we knew about a star’s behavior. A star located about 12,000 light-years from Earth unexpectedly brightened. Initially, scientists believed this brightening was caused by the star expanding into a red giant and engulfing a nearby planet, a scenario seen in many star systems.

However, with the Webb’s incredible infrared technology—thanks to instruments like MIRI and NIRSpec—researchers looked deeper and found something surprising. The star, named ZTF SLRN-2020, showed no signs of swelling. Instead of consuming a planet, the nearby world was spiraling inward toward the star, slowly approaching its fiery end.

The latest research published in The Astrophysical Journal shows that this planet, about the size of Jupiter, was orbiting much too close to its star, even closer than Mercury is to our Sun. Over millions of years, this unsafe orbit shrank, causing the planet to skim the star’s atmosphere. Eventually, it met its demise in a fiery collision. Morgan MacLeod, a co-author of the study and astrophysicist at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and MIT, described how the planet’s material began to spread around the star before its final plunge.

“This event was so unique that we didn’t know what to expect when we pointed the telescope at it,” said Ryan Lau, the lead author and an astronomer at the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab. “Using its high-resolution infrared capability, we’re gaining valuable insights into the fates of planetary systems, including possibly our own.”

The brightening we witnessed when the planet’s material mixed with the star likely provided the dramatic glow that first caught astronomers’ eyes. This finding is reshaping our understanding of how stars can swallow planets.

This fascinating observation was part of Webb’s Target of Opportunity program, aimed at investigating sudden cosmic events like supernovas or, in this case, planetary deaths. With next-generation telescopes like the Vera Rubin Observatory and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope soon coming online, we can expect to uncover more stories of planetary destruction.

This research highlights the ever-changing story we write in the field of astronomy. As telescopes grow more advanced, our understanding of the universe continues to expand, revealing the exciting and sometimes terrifying processes that govern celestial bodies. Keep an eye on the stars—their secrets are just beginning to unfold.

Source link

exoplanets,stars,The Milky Way,webb space telescope