Ageing stars like sun swallow nearby planets, astronomers find ‘strong evidence’
SMRTR summary
A massive study of nearly half a million star systems provides strong evidence that aging stars like the Sun regularly destroy nearby planets as they expand into red giants. Researchers found that planets are three times less common around evolved stars compared to main-sequence stars, with only 0.11% of red giants hosting close-orbiting planets. This occurs through tidal interactions that cause planets to spiral inward and disintegrate as their host stars swell and cool after exhausting their hydrogen fuel.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Interesting Engineering.
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