Star Eats Planet in Rare Astronomical Event
For the first time ever, scientists have witnessed a star system devouring a Jupiter-sized planet, providing a blueprint for finding similar phenomena throughout the universe. This discovery will be especially important when the Vera C. Rubin Observatory goes online in 2025. As the sun-like star consumed the planet whole, it flung the star's hot gas out into space, where it eventually cooled and turned to dust. This event is a direct observation of the eventual fate of the Earth, which will be consumed by the sun in about 5 billion years.