--- title: "Scientists Spot Tragic Planet Being Eaten by a Dying Star" description: "Until recently, scientists had never spotted a star in the act of consuming a planet — and eventually, it will happen to Earth, too." date: "2023-05-07" modified: "2023-05-07" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/star-eats-planet" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "dying star" - "planetary science" - "planets" - "the digest" --- # Scientists Spot Tragic Planet Being Eaten by a Dying Star ![Until recently, scientists had never spotted a star in the act of consuming a planet — and eventually, it will happen to Earth, too.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Tastes Like Chicken Until recently, scientists had never spotted a star in the act of consuming a planet — and now that it's been captured, we likely have a glimpse of Earth's future. Astronomers at Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the California Institute of Technology, and a spattering of other schools [have been studying]() the process by which dying stars consume other planets, which has been a [known phenomenon]() for some time but until now, hadn't been observed *in media res*. Published this week [in the journal *Nature*](), the consortium's study about this unprecedented observation details how the star, which is located in our galaxy about 12,000 light-years away near the constellation Aquila, became brighter and brighter as it died — and how it left a strange signal in its wake. As the [MIT press release]() about the research notes, a dying star will "billow out to a million times its original size, engulfing any matter — and planets — in its wake." This was what the scientists believe happened with the star they witnessed as it "became more than 100 times brighter over just 10 days, before quickly fading away." "Curiously, this white-hot flash was followed by a colder, longer-lasting signal," the press release continued. "This combination, the scientists deduced, could only have been produced by one event: a star engulfing a nearby planet." ## Big Boy The planet in question was, as the MIT statement notes, "likely a hot, Jupiter-sized world that spiraled close, then was pulled into the dying star’s atmosphere, and, finally, into its core." "We were seeing the end-stage of the swallowing," said Kishalay De, an MIT astrophysics postdoc and the study's lead author. De added that this never-before-seen observation foretells our planet's future, too. "We are seeing the future of the Earth," he said. "If some other civilization was observing us from 10,000 light-years away while the sun was engulfing the Earth, they would see the sun suddenly brighten as it ejects some material, then form dust around it, before settling back to what it was." While this isn't exactly a rosy outlook, it's good to know where we're headed in a few billion years, right? **More on star stuff:** [*Scientists Are Breathlessly Waiting For Betelgeuse to Explode*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()