Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Muskan Arora
A recent study published in Nature sheds light on the phenomenon of stars destroying and consuming their own planets, highlighting the delicate balance between life and destruction in the cosmos.
The sun, essential for life on Earth, also holds the potential to annihilate it. While it nurtures our existence, it harbours the power to eventually bring about our demise.
One-way stars can betray their planets is through tidal disruption, where gravitational forces gradually tear apart planets orbiting too close. This process, akin to Earth's tidal forces, can lead to a planet's disintegration.
Astronomers have observed instances of tidal disruption flares caused by stars shredded by supermassive black holes, along with dimmer flares indicative of planets being consumed by their stars.
The study reveals that approximately 1 in 12 stars exhibits signs of ingesting planetary material, indicating the relatively common occurrence of tidal disruption.
Studies have also found similar scars on white dwarfs, remnants of stars much larger than our sun. These white dwarfs emit intense radiation capable of vaporizing orbiting planets.
While Earth won't succumb to tidal disruption, its ultimate fate lies in the sun's transition into a red giant, expected in about five billion years. This transformation will engulf Mercury, Venus, and potentially Earth itself.
Though Earth has billions of years left, the sun's eventual expansion will render it uninhabitable, underscoring the impermanence of our planet in the grand scheme of cosmic events.