Astronomers have discovered a rocky planet orbiting a white dwarf

In a surprising discovery, astronomers have identified a rocky planet orbiting a white dwarf star. This discovery could provide us with clues about the possible fate of the Earth after the Sun turns into a red giant.

According to Tekna Technology Media’s astronomy news service, in the distant future, the Sun will become a red giant and in the process, it will devour the inner planets of the solar system, including Mercury and possibly Venus. Until now, it was thought that the earth would suffer the same fate. But a recent discovery suggests that some planets may survive this critical phase.

Scientists have discovered a rocky planet orbiting a white dwarf star that has already passed the red giant stage. The planet originally revolved around its star in an orbit similar to Earth, but as the star grew in size and turned into a red giant, it was pushed into a more distant orbit. This is the first example of a rocky planet discovered orbiting a white dwarf.

“According to this finding, we cannot say with certainty that the Earth will disappear in the future,” said Keming Zhang, an astrophysicist at the University of California, San Diego. Our planet may also be pushed into a distant orbit after passing through the red giant stage of the Sun and become a planet similar to the discovered planet. The mentioned planet is located at a distance of about 4000 light years from the earth and was discovered using the microlensing method. This method is based on the deflection of background starlight by the gravity of a foreground celestial body.

By examining the obtained data more closely, scientists concluded that in addition to the rocky planet, a brown dwarf is also orbiting this white dwarf star. Brown dwarfs are celestial bodies that do not have enough mass to initiate nuclear fusion in their cores.

Computer modeling suggests that the discovered rocky planet was originally located in the star’s habitable zone, the region where liquid water is possible. However, as the star’s size increases, the planet’s orbit gradually enlarges and escapes the danger of being engulfed by the star.

This discovery suggests that rocky planets may continue to exist after the central star passes through the red giant stage. Of course, the conditions on these planets will be very different from the initial conditions, and the possibility of life on them is very low. With the launch of new space telescopes in the future, scientists hope to discover more planets orbiting white dwarfs and improve our understanding of the fate of planetary systems. To see the latest news, refer to the scientific news page of Tekna Media.