Star May Have a Cosmic Snack: Two Planets to be Swallowed in Only a Few Million Years

A star is about to have a cosmic snack. Scientists have found the two worlds orbiting a distant star will be swallowed by the star in just a short period of time--at least by astronomical standards. The star will consume Kepler 56b in 130 million years and then devour KEpler-56c in 155 million years.

The star, KEpler-56, is slowly become a red giant star. It has already ballooned out to four times the sun's size and as it ages, it will continue to expand outward. As it grows larger, its tides will become stronger and drag its planets to their eventual doom. In fact, the system gives astronomers a glimpse into the future of our own solar system; in about five billion years, our sun will become a red giant star and engulf both Mercury and Venus.

"As far as we know, this is the first time two known exoplanets in a single system have a predicted 'time of death,'" said Gongjie Li, one of the researchers, in a news release.

As Kepler-56 grows, the planets will be subjected to immense heating. Their atmospheres will begin to boil off and they will begin to stretch into egg-like shapes due to stronger stellar tides. Eventually, the only survivor in the system will be Kepler-56d, which is a gas giant circling the star in a 3.3-Earth-year orbit. It's at a safe enough distance that it will manage to survive while its two sibling planets will meet their demise.

The findings reveal a little bit more about this particular system, which actually provides a good example of what will happen to our own system. By observing Kepler-56, researchers can learn a little bit more about what happens to a planetary system as its star draws closer to its inevitable demise. Currently, astronomers plan for future observations to learn a little bit more about this system.