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Planet alone
When stars explode and die, they tend to swallow and incinerate everything around them. But sometimes, exoplanets survive, abandoned adrift like celestial orphans.
According to a study published in the newspaper, a team of American and European astronomers determined which planets would survive the death of the white dwarf stars they orbit. Monthly Notices from the Royal Astronomical Society. According to research, small, dense and distant exoplanets offer the best chance, which could help astronomers locate even more planets in the distant cosmos.
Celestial orphans
Scientists have simulated these destructive events and discovered a direct link between survival and the size and density of exoplanets. The dying stars obliterated the larger units of the pack, while the tiny, dense exoplanets survived, provided that they orbit at least a third of their stars as far as Mercury from the sun.
"Our study invites astronomers to search for rocky planets close to the destruction radius of the white dwarf, but just outside of it," said University of Warwick physicist Dimitri Veras, in a press release issued by this university. "Until now, the observations have focused on this inner region, but our study demonstrates that rocky planets can survive tidal interactions with the white dwarf so as to push them slightly outward."
READ MORE: Robust little planets more likely to survive the death of their stars[Salledepressedel'UniversitédeWarwickvia[UniversityofWarwicknewsroomvia[Salledepressedel’UniversitédeWarwickvia[UniversityofWarwicknewsroomviaScienceDaily]
More on exoplanets: These solitary planets drift into space without stars in orbit
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