Scientists for the first have observed a rare cellestial event when they detected a star swallowing a planet.
The study which has been published in journal nature said that after running out of fuel in its core, the star began to grow in size, shrinking the gap with its neighbhouring plant, eventually consuming it entirely.
The planet was bigger in size than jupiter with an orbit closer to its star than Mercury's is to the sun.
Earth likely to meet same fate on day
Astronomers believe that Earth one day will meet the same fate as this planet had met with its star.
Scientists say that its about 5 billion years from now that the Sun will pass through the same ageing process.
In about 5 billion years, our Sun will go through a similar ageing process, possibly reaching 100 times its current diameter and becoming what's known as a red giant. During that growth spurt, it will absorb Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth.
Astronomers have previously identified many red giant stars and suspected that in some cases they consume nearby planets, but the phenomenon had never been directly observed before.
"This type of event has been predicted for decades, but until now, we have never actually observed how this process plays out," said lead author Kishalay De, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
The star devouring event - formally called ZTF SLRN-2020 - was detected using multiple ground-based observatories and NASA's NEOWISE (Near Earth Object Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft.
Drag from the atmosphere slowed the planet down, shrinking its orbit and eventually sending it below the star's visible surface, like a meteor burning up in Earth's atmosphere.
The transfer of energy caused the star to temporarily increase in size and become a few hundred times brighter.
Recent observations show the star has returned to the size and brightness it was before merging with the planet.
(With inputs from IANS)
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