Ben Turner is a U.K. based staff writer at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, among other topics like tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist.
Astronomers have discovered a distant planet that has offered them a rare glimpse of what our planet may look like 8 billion years in the future.
Before that, though, our sun will first accelerate outward into a red giant, consuming Mercury, Venus, and possibly even Earth and Mars. If our planet is spared, it could eventually resemble this one, drifting farther out from the cooling remains of the dying cosmic furnace. The researchers described the distant world Sept. 26 in the journal Nature Astronomy.
For most of their lives, stars burn by fusing hydrogen into helium. Once they have exhausted their hydrogen fuel, however, they begin fusing helium, leading to a massive increase in energy output that causes them to swell to hundreds or even thousands of times their original size — and gobbling up any nearby planets as they transform into red giants.
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.RELATED STORIES —New class of exoplanet — half-rock, half-water — discovered orbiting red dwarf—Never-before-seen rocks found in these exoplanet graveyards
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