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3w ago

James Webb Telescope Captures First Detailed View of Planet Engulfed by Star

Observations reveal a Jupiter-sized planet spiraled into its host star over millions of years, challenging previous theories of planetary death.

An artist's concept shows a ring of hot gas left after a star consumed a planet, in this undated illustration. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope observed such a ring and also found an expanding cloud of cooler dust enveloping the scene. NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY
The James Webb Space Telescope has observed a star engulfing a planet, but it didn't go down exactly as scientists thought it would.

Overview

  • NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has observed the first-ever recorded planetary engulfment, where a planet’s orbit decayed until it collided with its star.
  • The event, named ZTF SLRN-2020, occurred 12,000 light-years away in the Milky Way and was first detected as a flash of light in 2020.
  • New data confirms the star did not expand into a red giant; instead, the planet’s orbit gradually shrank before it grazed and was consumed by the star.
  • Webb’s instruments detected a hot disk of molecular gas, including carbon monoxide, and a surrounding cloud of cooler dust formed from the planet’s destruction.
  • These findings, published in *The Astrophysical Journal*, provide new insights into the end stages of planetary systems, with implications for our solar system’s future.