Exoplanets Spotted Orbiting Dead Star 76
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."
Re:Define "Survive" in this context (Score:5, Funny)
See Star Trek TNG episode... (Score:0, Funny)
... for what's going to happen to us. [wikipedia.org]
We're going to die off and be forgotten because humankind has turned away from space exploration and instead has focused on socialism. Stealing from the productive to give to the lazy is now our final fate.
Only 6 billion years left? (Score:3, Funny)
But... I was hoping humanity would still be around to see the copyrights to "Steamboat Willy" expire!
Sun (Score:3, Funny)
I'd love to Sun expand again, and devour Oracle.
Re:Sun (Score:4, Funny)
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.
CCDs! (Score:5, Funny)
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:5 billion years from now (Score:5, Funny)
I can't wait for them to get here. I bet they're tasty.
Re:5 billion years from now (Score:5, Funny)
That is perfectly okay. They will land a job in a newspaper somewhere...and wear their underwear outside their pants!
Re:Oh come On. (Score:5, Funny)
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