Compared to the typical merger of two stars, the ZTF SLRN-2020’s explosion and the amount of material ejected seemed less impressive. In addition, the star’s radius has not changed significantly. Thus, the subsequent decay of the infrared emission may have been a sign of the star’s return to hydrodynamic and thermal equilibrium. The low luminosity of the event indicates that the amount of hydrogen released by the star was only a tiny fraction of its mass, about one-hundredth to one-thousandth. This resulted in relatively constant brightness and increasingly reddish shades with reduced optical output. Mid-infrared emission during this decay indicates a warm dust envelope that was slowly cooling.
Shattered Planet | A brief photoemission of about ten days was followed by a six-month decrease in radiation, coinciding with a longer infrared emission. This was apparently due to the merger of a giant planet with its host star. Closer interactions between the two bodies had already existed years before. The eruption marks the moment of devouring. The infrared emission is likely due to the star’s subsequent transition to a new hydrodynamic and thermal equilibrium.
Even before this discovery, such interplanetary entanglements could have been detected in principle: both several theoretical Models Beside indirectly different Notes Make that seem possible. Whether a planet is eventually swallowed by its star depends on certain circumstances. According to the model’s calculations, gravitational interactions between the planet and other objects in the system (possibly other planets or a companion star) can slowly push the planet toward its star. Certain characteristics make it particularly vulnerable, such as its large orbital inclinations or proximity to other planets.
Tidal forces between a nearby star and planet can also slowly sink the latter. When a star uses its hydrogen for fuel in its core, it swells into what is known as a subgiant and begins to engulf planets in tight orbits. In a few billion years, our Sun will go through the same process.
Another indirect indication of a swallowed planet is that the stars rotate faster than usual and are fertilized with certain chemical elements. If future observations of ZTF SLRN-2020 also show such features, it will support De’s team’s interpretation as the first direct evidence of a star swallowing a planet. Using such approaches, many other similar events can be closely examined and the mechanisms driving such processes can be deciphered.
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