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7mo ago

Newly Discovered Planetary System Offers Glimpse into Earth's Distant Future

Astronomers find Earth-like planet orbiting a white dwarf, providing insights into the potential fate of our planet.

An artist's impression shows a rocky planet orbiting a stellar remnant called a white dwarf roughly 4,200 light years from Earth in this undated illustration. W.M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko/Handout via REUTERS
A reddish brown sphere surrounded by a halo of white smoke next to a smaller shining silver sphere.
The James Webb Space Telescope observed the Southern Ring Nebula, the result of a dying star, in 2022.
Astronomers have discovered a distant white dwarf with an Earth-like planet in an orbit just beyond where Mars is in our solar system. Earth could end up in such an orbit circling a white dwarf in about 8 billion years, if, like this exoplanet, it can survive the sun's red giant phase on its way to becoming a white dwarf.

Overview

  • A planetary system 4,000 light-years away features an Earth-mass planet orbiting a white dwarf star.
  • The system, identified through gravitational microlensing, includes a white dwarf, an Earth-sized planet, and a brown dwarf.
  • This discovery suggests that Earth-like planets can survive the tumultuous final stages of stellar evolution.
  • The findings offer a preview of what might happen to Earth when our Sun exhausts its nuclear fuel and becomes a white dwarf.
  • The study highlights the resilience of planets and raises questions about the potential for life in such systems.