Armed with new evidence, scientists confident that a young star could engulf the entire planet



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  Neutron Gamma Burst

Mark Garlick / University of Warwick

It is possible that for the first time scientists encountered the phenomenon of young planets or that a planet is devoured by a star present nearby. This observation, made from NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory, provides a detailed look at a key factor that plays an integral role in the lifespan of infantile planets.

Astronomers are curious about the variability shown by one, a young star that is about 450 light-years away from Earth. It has been noted from observations made as early as 1937 that the optical light of this young star disappears briefly every few decades before it regains its luster. The frequency of this gradation has increased significantly in recent years and even the gradation period has increased at an increasing rate.

It is now speculated that a group of scientists, curious about this event, was able to determine the cause of the last gradation of the star with the help of Chandra. It seems that this obscuration was caused when two incipient planetary bodies, containing at least one mass of the size of a planet, crashed one into the other.

The debris formed as a result of this collision falls into the young star. layer of dust and gas, which leads to the obscuration of the light of the star

  Star devouring the planet

The illustration of this artist depicts the destruction of one young planet or planets, which scientists may have witnessed for the first time. Chandra X-ray Observatory of NASA Credits: Illustration: NASA / CXC / M. Weiss; X-ray Spectrum: NASA / CXC / MIT / HMGünther

Hans Moritz Guenther, a researcher at the Kavli Institute of Astrophysics and Space Research at MIT, said: "Computer simulations have long been predicts that planets may fall into a young star, but we have never observed it before ". "If our interpretation of the data is correct, it would be the first time we directly observe a young star devouring a planet or planets."

It is now assumed that RW Aur's previous graduation incidents, a beginning, several million years old, may have been the result of similar events involving the collision of two planetary bodies. with each other and debris acting in the same way.

Chandra kept an eye on the star during the brilliant phase of the star since 2013, as well as during gradation instances noted in 2015 and 2017.

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