The Conversation

Local astronomer assures the sun won't gobble Earth for billions of years

Hawaiʻi Public Radio | By Stephanie Han

Published May 4, 2023 at 5:23 PM HST

This artist’s impression shows a doomed planet skimming the surface of its star. Astronomers used a combination of telescopes to spot the first direct evidence of an aging, bloated sun-like star, like the one pictured here, engulfing its planet. Telescopes included the Zwicky Transient Facility at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory, the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaiʻi, and NASA’s NEOWISE mission.

Thursday is Star Wars Day — May the Fourth be with you — and so we honor the observation of an “actual” death star.

Astronomers on Wednesday got 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.

For the first time, scientists observed what appeared to be a sun-like star gulping an orbiting gas planet about 15,000 light years away. The recent discovery involved multiple telescopes including the Keck Observatory on Maunakea.

An artist's impression of an aging star swelling up and beginning to engulf a planet, much like the Sun will do in about 5 billion years.

NPR News

This star ate its own planet. Earth may share the same fate

Nell Greenfieldboyce

The Conversation spoke to John O’Meara, chief scientist of the observatory, to learn about this powerful star and its appetite for other planets.

"We should care about this because it's another verification that we understand that the universe is not a static, never changing thing, that that the universe is dynamic, that our sun is dynamic, that all stars are dynamic," he said.

This interview aired on The Conversation on May 4, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.