Scientists find evidence that ageing stars often engulf their close-orbiting planets

An illustration of a burning star. PIC/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

As stars like the Sun exhaust their hydrogen, they begin to expand and cool, transforming into red giants. For the Sun, this dramatic change is expected in around five billion years. Scientists believe this expansion could destroy Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth, but so far, there is little direct evidence to confirm exactly how, or if this will occur.

Now, a study led by researchers at the University of Warwick and UCL has shed new light on the fate of planets orbiting ageing stars. By analysing nearly half a million nearby star systems, the team sought to understand how often planets survive when their host stars swell into red giants.

Their findings show that planets are far less common around stars in this late stage of life, suggesting that many close-orbiting worlds are likely destroyed as their stars expand, offering strong observational evidence of this dramatic planetary demise. This phenomenon has long been debated in theory, but now the impact can be observed directly across a large population of stars.

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