New study reveals stars consume their own planets
By avagrace // 2025-11-19
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  • A new astronomical study provides large-scale evidence that aging stars systematically consume the giant planets orbiting closest to them as the stars evolve and expand.
  • As a star becomes a red giant, powerful tidal forces sap energy from a close planet's orbit, causing the planet to spiral inward until it is torn apart or plunges into the star.
  • This research confirms that when our Sun becomes a red giant, it will not only engulf Mercury and Venus but that tidal forces could drag inner planets to their doom even before the moment of engulfment.
  • The study found that close-orbiting giant planets are extremely rare around fully evolved red giants (0.11% occurrence rate) compared to stars just beginning this phase (0.35%), directly measuring this destructive process.
  • The discovery underscores that planetary systems are dynamic and violent, forcing a revision of our place in a cosmos where even massive planets are not safe from their host star's death throes.
In a discovery that reshapes our understanding of cosmic life cycles, a team of astronomers has uncovered compelling evidence that aging stars systematically destroy the giant planets orbiting closest to them. This celestial consumption, driven by the star's own death throes, forces a dramatic reconsideration of planetary futures, including the ultimate fate of our own solar system. The findings, from researchers at University College London and the University of Warwick, provide a stark portrait of a universe in constant, violent flux. The study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, analyzed nearly half a million stars that had recently entered a late-life phase known as the "post-main sequence." This is the period when a star like our Sun exhausts its primary hydrogen fuel. As the nuclear fires in its core wane, the star begins to cool and expand dramatically, transforming into a red giant. For our Sun, this cataclysmic metamorphosis is predicted to occur in roughly five billion years. The international team sifted through this vast stellar population, searching for signs of planets clinging to close orbits around these evolving suns. They identified 130 confirmed and candidate planets, including 33 entirely new discoveries, in tight orbits around these aging stars. However, the distribution of these worlds told a grim story. The researchers found that such planets were far less common around stars that had expanded the most, those officially classified as red giants. This stark absence points to a singular, violent conclusion: the missing planets have been consumed.

The gravitational death spiral

The mechanism behind this destruction is a powerful gravitational struggle known as tidal interaction. As a star swells into a red giant, its gravitational influence changes. The planet's own gravity pulls on the bloated star, and the star pulls back with immense force. This cosmic tug-of-war saps energy from the planet's orbit, causing it to slowly spiral inward. The process is relentless, ending only when the planet is torn apart by gravitational forces or plunges directly into the stellar furnace. This research provides the first large-scale, observational evidence for a process long theorized but never before quantified on such a scale. The data suggest stars are remarkably efficient at devouring their inner planets, a finding that has profound implications for our galactic census. The study casts a long shadow over the future of our own cosmic neighborhood. When the Sun enters its red giant phase, it will expand to engulf the orbits of Mercury and Venus. The new research indicates that the inner planets are not necessarily safe until the moment of engulfment; the preceding tidal forces can drag them to their doom much earlier. While Earth orbits at a safer distance than the doomed giant planets in this study, its long-term prospects remain uncertain. The research only captured the earliest stages of stellar evolution, and the Sun's continued expansion poses a grave threat. Even if the planet itself survives the physical expansion, the intense heat will undoubtedly sterilize its surface, ending all life long before any potential engulfment.

A new galactic census

To conduct their research, the team utilized data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). They developed an algorithm to detect the tell-tale, repeating dips in a star's brightness caused when a planet passes in front of it. Focusing on giant planets with orbits of 12 days or less, the team began with over 15,000 potential signals. Through rigorous analysis, they whittled this down to the 130 high-confidence targets. According to BrightU.AI's Enoch, TESS was launched in April 2018 to search for exoplanets. Astronomers from Ohio State University have proposed that TESS can also be used to observe supernovas, offering new insights into the causes of white dwarf star explosions. The statistics revealed a clear and dramatic trend. The overall occurrence rate of these close-orbiting giant planets was a mere 0.28%. For stars just beginning their post-main-sequence evolution, the rate was 0.35%, similar to younger stars. But for the fully evolved red giants, the rate plummeted to just 0.11%. This sharp decline serves as a direct measurement of planetary destruction across the galaxy. The next phase of research involves confirming the nature of these candidate planets by measuring their masses. This will allow scientists to distinguish true planets from failed stars and refine their understanding of the destructive tidal forces at play. This discovery forces a sobering revision of our place in the cosmos. We do not merely orbit a stable, eternal star. We are in a dynamic relationship with a living entity that will one day change, grow, and likely claim its closest companions. The universe is not a static museum but a vibrant and often violent arena of creation and destruction, where even the most massive planets are not safe from the dying breath of their sun. Watch this video explaining the flat Earth star trails. This video is from Eric Dubay's channel on Brighteon.com. Sources include:  ScienceDaily.com SpaceDaily.com UCL.ac.uk BrightU.ai Brighteon.com
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