Destroyed Planets, ‘Zombie’ Stars Party

Wednesday, 23 February 2022 – 13:53 WIB

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VIVA – When the Sun dies, the Earth will join it. As star medium mass, the Sun will end its life by swelling into a red giant star. The rest of the Sun’s core will collapse into a white dwarf.

But the details of Earth’s death are still unclear. During the death stage of the red monster, the Sun will probably swell beyond Earth’s orbit. This can cause the Earth to be thrown into interstellar space or burn up.

Another potential is being catapulted into an unstable orbit causing Earth or its fragments to collide with a white dwarf, according to the site InverseWednesday, February 23, 2022.

The next scenario is that most of the star’s outer layers are thrown away during the red giant stage because white dwarfs usually have thin atmospheres of gas remaining.

This atmosphere is expected to contain elements such as carbon or oxygen that form in the upper layers of the star’s core towards the end. But between a quarter and half of white dwarfs have heavier elements like iron and calcium in their atmosphere.

These heavier elements are not part of the expelled outer layers of stars, so they most likely come from debris planet which the white dwarf catches after it is formed.

This is a new scenario because a collision between a planetary remnant and a white dwarf has never been observed so it is difficult to pinpoint its source. But a new study published in the journal Nature found evidence of the collision.

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