The darkening of a star is attributed to devouring a planet

The periodic dimming periodic of a star at 450 light-years from Earth was explained following an observation of X-rays as a result of planetary remains which are devoured by their sun.

For nearly a century, astronomers have been intrigued by the curious variability of young stars residing in the Taurus-Auriga constellation about 450 light-years from Earth. One star in particular has attracted the attention of astronomers. Every few decades, the light of the star has briefly disappeared before shining again.

In recent years, astronomers have observed that the star darkens more frequently and for longer periods. , raising the question: what repeatedly obscures the star ? The answer, according to astronomers could illuminate some of the chaotic processes that take place at the beginning of the development of a star.

Now the physicists of MIT and other places have observed the star, named RW Aur A using the Observatory of X-rays Chandra of NASA. They found evidence of what could have caused their most recent obfuscation event: a collision of two planetary bodies of children that produced a dense cloud of gas and dust after him. When these planetary debris fell on the star, they produced a thick veil that temporarily obscured the light of the star

"Computer simulations have long predicted that planets may fall on a young star, but never previously, we have observed it, "says Hans Moritz Guenther researcher at I Kavli Institute of Astrophysics and MIT Space Research who headed l & # 39; study. "If our interpretation of the data is correct, it would be the first time we will directly observe a young star devour a planet or planets."

The previous events of darkening of the star could be caused by similar beguines, two planetary bodies or large remains of past collisions that were found from against and returned to be broken.

"This is speculation, but if you have a collision of two pieces, it is likely that they will be later in unstable orbits which increases the probability that they collide again, "says Guenther.

Guenther is the principal author of a document that details the results of the group, which appears in the Astronomical Journal . His co-authors of MIT include David H uenemoderder and David Principe as well as researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and collaborators in Germany and Belgium.