It Seems Impossible, But Somehow This Planet Survived its Star’s Red Giant Phase

Astronomers working with TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) data have found a planet where it shouldn’t be: in the space recently filled by its host star when it was a red giant.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

It Seems Impossible, But Somehow This Planet Survived its Star’s Red Giant Phase

Astronomers working with TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) data have found a planet where it shouldn’t be: in the space recently filled by its host star when it was a red giant.

more…

OOh.

Now that is interesting. Disturbingly so. I truly hope that some astrophysicists find an answer other than the predictable knee-jerk reaction “Velikovsky was right”.

Tau.Neutrino said:

It Seems Impossible, But Somehow This Planet Survived its Star’s Red Giant Phase

Astronomers working with TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) data have found a planet where it shouldn’t be: in the space recently filled by its host star when it was a red giant.

more…

OOh.

Now that is interesting. Disturbingly so. I truly hope that some astrophysicists find an answer other than the predictable knee-jerk reaction “Velikovsky was right”.

I suspect gas drag. As a red giant expands, its tenuous outer atmosphere expands even more. Planets within that tenuous outer atmosphere experience gas drag and start to spiral in.

It’s already known that a planet can survive within the Sun without dying, for some tens or hundreds or even thousands of years. But the red giant phase tends to last from a billion to 10 billion years depending on mass, so that explanation is out.

mollwollfumble said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

It Seems Impossible, But Somehow This Planet Survived its Star’s Red Giant Phase

Astronomers working with TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) data have found a planet where it shouldn’t be: in the space recently filled by its host star when it was a red giant.

more…

OOh.

Now that is interesting. Disturbingly so. I truly hope that some astrophysicists find an answer other than the predictable knee-jerk reaction “Velikovsky was right”.

I suspect gas drag. As a red giant expands, its tenuous outer atmosphere expands even more. Planets within that tenuous outer atmosphere experience gas drag and start to spiral in.

It’s already known that a planet can survive within the Sun without dying, for some tens or hundreds or even thousands of years. But the red giant phase tends to last from a billion to 10 billion years depending on mass, so that explanation is out.

> from 1 billion to 10 billion years

Oops, from 0.3 million to 500 million years. You know what I meant.