Scientists have recently made a tragic discovery: they have spotted a planet being eaten by its dying star. This is the first time scientists have seen this occur, and it serves as an ominous reminder of what could eventually happen to Earth.
The doomed planet was discovered orbiting around the white dwarf star GD 61, located 150 light years away from Earth in the Virgo constellation. The team of astronomers used data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope and Hubble Space Telescope to detect evidence that suggested that something unusual was occurring with this system; namely, that material was being pulled off of one object and onto another — in other words, a planet-eating star!
This phenomenon occurs when stars reach their final stages before becoming white dwarfs: they become so large that their gravity begins to pull material off any planets orbiting them. Eventually, these planets will be completely consumed by the dying stars’ powerful gravitational forces until nothing remains but dust particles scattered across space.
Fortunately for us here on Earth we still have some time before our own Sun reaches its death throes; however, this recent discovery serves as an important reminder about how fragile our planetary home is — no matter how far away it may seem right now!
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