Exoplanets Spotted Orbiting Dead Star

astroengine writes "Scientists have found a system of planets that appears to have survived being engulfed by their dying parent star. The discovery raises questions about the ultimate fate of our solar system when the sun runs out of hydrogen gas in about 5 billion years and violently transform into an expanding red giant star. Scientists believe all the planets from Earth inward will be destroyed when the sun expands, but new research suggests that if planets are large enough, they may outlast their parent star's death, even if they are engulfed."

Comments

Oh come On.

[drainbramage]

5 billion years from now that could be us!

Don't you want to know how it will end?

Re:Oh come On.

[niktemadur]

Five billion years from now... oh fuck it, I need a drink.

Sobering up now, this "dead star" is really a white dwarf, isn't it?
Time scales become truly mind-boggling when, after eons as a white dwarf, the nuclear reaction peters out, the "ember" still emitting heat for eons upon eons.

If the proton decays, when the last white dwarf goes out, around 10^14 years from now, the Universe passes from the Stelliferous Era to the Degenerate Era, everything slowly cooling down, matter slowly disintegrating or being sucked into black holes, beyond the point when all free-floating matter has reached 1-to-1 odds of evaporating, roughly 10^40 years from now.

If the proton decays, then the Universe enters the Black Hole Era, when there is no more matter to be sucked into singularities, so that they now begin the excruciatingly slow process of evaporating via Hawking Radiation. The last of the supermassive black holes will have evaporated by 10^100 from now. Then we enter a period of virtual infinity, named the Dark Era, the Universe inconceivably vast and empty and still accelerating.

However, if the proton does NOT decay, circumstances and numbers become even more surreal/nasty, all stars NOT sucked into black holes reach 1-to-1 odds of becoming iron spheres at around 10^1500 years from now. That's right, all baryonic matter in the Universe will have frozen into an iron state. Finally, the last iron star will collapse into a neutron star or black hole at 10^10^76 (ten to the ten to the seventy six).

And that's how thing will end and remain ended.

Re:Oh come On.

[FuturePerson]

And that's how thing[s] will end and remain ended.

That's not true, actually. You see, beyond the accelerating universe, by the time of the end of which you speak, we will have built ... "God", for lack of a better word. By that time, we have looked at each particle and each vibration of each string and determined where it came from and where it is going (yes, there's no random), allowing us to calculate everything back to before the big bang.

Everything will be known - every path of every falling leaf anywhere in the universe, ever. Every action, every thought and every feeling of every creature that ever lived will be known, in effect raising everyone from the dead in a big collective consciousness beyond this universe and all the matter and energy in it. Thankfully there must have been a universe about around here before, because out there on the outside, was matter we could build our collective of. We need all the matter in this universe. We need to start it again, in the exact same way it once started. Everything in this universe will all happen exactly as it happened and is happening and will happen once more.

Why we need to do that? I'll get into that later, unless I've all ready mentioned it before. But now I have to go. These are very hectic days for this weary "time-traveler". My adventures on this earth at this point in history are not that important. They are dwarfed by the cosmic storyline, but they might be an amusing read if I get time to write about them.

Do good. You will reap the benefits later.

Sincerelly,
Future Person

Define "Survive" in this context

[bobcat7677]

So...your grave still exists on whats left of a scorched rock vs being completely destroyed leaving nothing but particles in space? Sounds WAY better!

Re:Define "Survive" in this context

[ClioCJS]

if you are an interstellar archaeologist, it definitely is better!

Re:Define "Survive" in this context

[bobcat7677]

TFA mentioned the planets had lost significant portions of their mass to the intense heat. I doubt there would be anything left for an archaeologist to look at.

Re:Define "Survive" in this context

[mister_playboy]

I would say your grave doesn't still exist on the remaining scorched rock, which I assume is the core of the planet. Your grave would have evaporated along with the outer layers of the former surface.

Unless you have a really deep grave, anyway. :)

Only 6 billion years left?

[Anonymous Coward]

But... I was hoping humanity would still be around to see the copyrights to "Steamboat Willy" expire!

Re:Only 6 billion years left?

[MightyMartian]

I'm afraid you will have to wait for the heat death of the Universe. Perhaps when protons start decaying...

Sun

[Mister Liberty]

I'd love to Sun expand again, and devour Oracle.

Re:Sun

[wierd_w]

Unfortunately, Larry Ellison's planet sized ego would survive, much like these burnt out planets the article mentions.

Only the burnt out planets didn't have golden parachutes.

Larry Ellison does.

Re:Sun

[networkBoy]

Which we know he will use as a solar sail to outrun the expanding sun. The sheer massiveness of his ego will contain enough atmosphere for the journey to the next planet that he can host Oracle on.
-nB

CCDs!

[instagib]

First a story about a comet flying through the sun unharmed. Now a story about planets surviving an expanding sun. Clearly a new PR strategy of the Climate Change Deniers (tm) !

Re:CCDs!

[wierd_w]

Not good enough though.

NSIDC predicts that by 2025 arctic tundra will turn from carbon sink to carbon emmision source.

Yay for violent methane release! Better fill up that hummer! You're gonna need the gas considering how hard your AC is gonna be working.

Re:5 billion years from now

[ackthpt]

Who the *beep* cares? Seriously....

Because probability dictates a good chance of a Futurama-like world will exist sometime during that span. If you want to be a part get started on your own stasis chamber, now. Don't forget to take a pizza with you, so you'll have something to eat when you emerge.

In the meanwhile, I'm more worried about the survivors of those dead worlds, who are on their way here.

Re:See Star Trek TNG episode...

[fahrbot-bot]

What's wrong with focusing on fixing this planet first?

Nothing, except many of its inhabitants are short-sighted, selfish, petty, nimrods, who only care about themselves and what effects them directly, and they are, to a great extent, the ones in charge/power making decisions that affect the rest.

Re:5 billion years from now

[geekoid]

I can't wait for them to get here. I bet they're tasty.

Re:5 billion years from now

[thej1nx]

>>In the meanwhile, I'm more worried about the survivors of those dead worlds, who are on their way here.

That is perfectly okay. They will land a job in a newspaper somewhere...and wear their underwear outside their pants!

Re:So what they found out?

[berzerke]

...Is the star dead or dying?

I read it as the star was dying and it engulfed the planets. Now the star is dead and shrunk back down, and they found some planets are still there.

Re:So... you do agree...

[mister_playboy]

I'm sorry, but giving something like only 2000 years as a timescale for the Earth becoming "uninhabitable by life as we know it" due just to increases in solar output is just wildly inaccurate. The Sun is not changing that fast.

I'd say 100 million years is about a short as you can credibly go, and obviously life will evolve during that time. The real killer would be the point at which liquid water can no longer exist on the surface, and that's more like a billion years in the future.

Re:5 billion years from now

[DiogoBiazus]

That is perfectly okay. They will land a job in a newspaper somewhere...and wear their underwear outside their pants!

As a former resident of an exoplanet I must protest. This is an stereotype created by pop culture, not all aliens wear their underwear outside their pants, you insensitive clod!

It does not matter in the long run

[aepervius]

In 800 million year to 1 billion year the sun luminosity will have increased so much as to make existence of life and even water in liquid form a rarity on earth, baring complete extinction.

As for those purporting we should think about earth extinguishing and prepare the way for a futurama like civilisation :
1) we aren't able to even get agreement on something as simple as CO2 and GCC which is a threat *now*
2) we are still eating oil like tehre is no tomorow. And the way I see it : there won't be, because if we don't find an alternative source like fusion, our age of tech will *end* and there won't be another one *ever* (too much research depend on plentyful energy , so to regain back what we had, would be next to impossible)