This star ate its own planet. Earth may share the same fate
Astronomers have gotten a sneak peek at what could be Earth's ultimate fate in about 5 billion years when the sun reaches the end of its life and engulfs the solar system's inner planets – including our own.
That's because, for the first time, they've spotted what appears to be a sun-like star gulping an orbiting planet.
This particular star lies about 15,000 light years away. During a survey of the sky, astronomers saw the star suddenly and briefly brighten, becoming about 100 times more luminous over around 10 days.
Follow-up observations suggest that what they witnessed must have been the star's ingestion of a hot gas giant planet about the size of Jupiter, according to a new in the journal .
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