[ad_1]
French Media AgencySeptember 17, 2020 9:30:37 am IST
Astronomers have discovered a Jupiter-sized planet closely orbiting the smoking remains of a dead star, the first time an intact exoplanet has been discovered traveling around a white dwarf, according to research published Wednesday.
The researchers said that the fate of this giant planet, named WD 1586 b, offers a potential glimpse into our own Solar System when the Sun finally ages into a white dwarf in about five billion years.
When it has used up its hydrogen reserves, a star like the Sun goes into its throes, first swelling enormously into an incandescent red giant that burns and engulfs nearby planets. It then collapses, reducing it to its burned core.
This is the white dwarf, an extremely dense stellar ember that glows faintly with excess heat energy and slowly fades over billions of years.
Previous research has suggested that some white dwarfs may retain more distant remnants of their planetary systems.
[ad_2]
