Researchers find a Jupiter-like planet orbiting a dead star. The planetary system allows a glimpse into the future of our solar system.
Hobart / Frankfurt – In five billion years, our sun will have used up its fuel and expand into a red giant, only to collapse into a tiny white dwarf. Even if it takes a long time before the sun dies, it is still extremely exciting for research to be able to take a look into the future of the solar system. Researchers working with astronomer Joshua Blackman from the University of Tasmania in Australia have now succeeded in doing this. With the help of the WM Keck Observatory on Mount Maunakea in Hawaii, his team tracked down a planetary system that has met a fate similar to that of our solar system. The study was published in the journal Nature.
The researchers have discovered a white dwarf that has around 60 percent of the mass of our sun. A planet orbits it: a gas world that has about 40 percent more mass than Jupiter. “We were able to rule out that it was a neutron star or a black hole. That means, the planet orbits a dead star, a white dwarf, ”emphasizes the co-author of the study, Jean-Philippe Beaulieu in a communication from the Keck Observatory. The discovery enables “an insight into what our solar system will look like after the catastrophic setting of our sun,” continues Beaulieu.
Space: White dwarf and planet allow insight into the future of the solar system
One thing was clear to the researchers even before their discovery: planets such as Mercury, Venus or the Earth, which are located close to the sun, will go down as the sun dies. When the sun puffs up, it will devour the closest planets Mercury and Venus and burn the earth.
But what happens to the more distant planets? After discovering the planet and the white dwarf, the researchers can conclude: “The evidence confirms that planets that are far enough away can continue to live after the death of their star,” concludes Blackman, lead author of the study.
View into space: will Jupiter and Saturn survive the end of our sun?
“Since this system is analogous to our own solar system, it suggests that Jupiter and Saturn could survive the sun’s red giant phase if it self-destructs,” explains Blackman. But what happens to people on earth, should it still be inhabited in such a distant future? “If humanity moved to a moon on Jupiter or Saturn before the sun roasted the earth, we would still be in an orbit around the sun,” suggests co-author David Bennett. However, you cannot rely on the heat of the sun for very long.
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In the near future, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will help NASA to track down other such planetary systems. “This is an extremely exciting result,” said the chief scientist at the Keck Observatory, John O’Meara. When the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope begins its work, astronomers will try to find out whether it is common for Jupiter-like planets to escape the final rearing of their star or whether a large number of them will not be destroyed after all puffed up. (tab)
