Alien planet spiralling around a star suggests how the Earth could meet its fate

According to astronomers, whose observations are recorded in a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters,  the distant exoplanet appears to be spiralling closer and closer to its maturing star. Eventually, they believe it could collide with the star, which would completely destroy it.

This, they say, provides fresh insights into the long-drawn-out process of planetary orbital decay by giving the first look at a system at this late stage of evolution. Colliding with stars is thought to be a fate that many planets are destined for. Billions of years from now, as our Sun grows older, this could spell disaster for Earth. 

Lead author of the study Doctor Shreyas Vissapragada, of the Centre for Astrophysics in the US, said: “We’ve previously detected evidence for exoplanets inspiraling toward their stars, but we have never before seen such a planet around an evolved star.

“Theory predicts that evolved stars are very effective at sapping energy from their planets’ orbits, and now we can test those theories with observations.”

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1711467/space-news-alien-planet-Kepler-1658b-hot-jupiter-The-Astrophysical-Journal-Letters