The solar system will probably be destroyed by “white dwarfs” – scientists

Scientists claim that the enormous gravitational force of white dwarfs when approaching asteroids, satellites and planets tears them into smaller and smaller parts

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The immense gravitational pull of white dwarfs rips smaller planetary bodies apart. Scientists assume that such a fate may befall the objects of the Solar System.

Scientists studied the activity of white dwarfs – a class of low- and medium-mass stars at the last stage of their evolution. The results of their work were published in the scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, writes The Guardian.

Scientists claim that the enormous gravitational force of white dwarfs when approaching asteroids, satellites and planets tears them into smaller and smaller parts.

These parts continue to collide with each other and eventually crumble into dust. By studying it, researchers determine what the original space objects were before their destruction.

“The very fact that we can detect debris from asteroids, and perhaps even moons or planets orbiting a white dwarf every few hours, is amazing.

We are convinced that we are on the right track in our research, but the fate of these systems is much more complex than we could have imagined.” – says Professor Borys Gensike from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warwick (Great Britain).

According to the scientist’s predictions, the Earth will be destroyed before the Sun turns into a white dwarf. It is possible that some asteroids, the satellites of Jupiter, will be crushed by the star in the last stage of its existence.

Before that, the expansion of the Sun is expected – a process during which the star’s nuclear fusion will end, its outer plasma layer will expand and absorb our planet.

By data According to NASA, the temperature of white dwarfs can exceed 100,000 Kelvin (almost 100,000°C). Despite their high temperatures, these objects emit little light due to their relatively small size, point out at New Mexico State University.

Researchers considerthat about 97% of stars in the Milky Way will eventually become white dwarfs.

As a reminder, scientists claim that some stars could absorb their planets

Anna Kovalenko, “UP. Life”