Space News Pod

In an extraordinary event that has rocked the astronomical community, scientists using the Gemini South telescope in Chile, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, have captured the first-ever evidence of a dying Sun-like star in the act of engulfing an exoplanet. This monumental finding, referred to as the "smoking gun," reveals a long, low-energy outburst from the star, a clear indication of a planet skimming the star's surface. This sighting is of particular interest to our home planet as it could provide insights into the Earth's ultimate destiny, predicted to occur when our Sun reaches its own end-of-life stage, estimated to be in about five billion years. Astronomers have long studied countless stars at various stages of their evolution to understand the lifecycle of stars and their interactions with neighboring planetary systems as they age. This research has shown that when a Sun-like star approaches the end of its life, it swells anywhere from 100 to 1000 times its original size, potentially swa