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A star was wrongly accused of a cosmic crime: devouring its own planet
Two years ago, a star on its deathbed was charged with a heinous act — eating a planet — in a system 12,000 light-years away from Earth.
But new evidence has emerged in the case that astronomers say exonerates this elderly Milky Way star of the crime. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a collaboration of NASA and its European and Canadian space counterparts, a team observed that while the planet did die in the belly of a stellar beast, it didn’t go down the way they once thought.
Rather than the star bloating into a red giant that then swallowed the Jupiter-sized world, the planet’s orbit had slowly shrunk, bringing it ever closer to its star. Eventually, the planet collided with the star.
It all boils down to culpability, and it seems, at least in this case, the distant planet essentially jumped down the star’s throat.
“So the star actually did eat the planet, just not in the way we initially thought,” Ryan Lau, an astronomer at the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, told Mashable, “and it was maybe more the planet’s fault.”
An artist’s depiction of a planet grazing a star just before being completely engulfed.
Credit: K. Miller / R. Hurt (Caltech / IPAC) illustration
In the past, astronomers have found evidence of stars that have consumed planets, sometimes by doing a sort of post-mortem autopsy on what’s left of the dead star. But research previously published on this particular event in the journal Nature presented the first direct evidence of a star engulfing a planet as it happened.
The incident was first seen five years ago as a sudden bright flash of visible light, which scientists named ZTF SLRN-2020. Later, they noticed that the star had already started to glow in infrared a year earlier — a clue that there was dust nearby, possibly in the wake of a destroyed planet.
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They thought the star had turned into a red giant, a late stage in a star’s life when it grows much larger and can swallow nearby planets. Scientists have suggested it’s likely the fate of the sun and Earth. But the new data from Webb revealed a twist: The star hadn’t brightened as it would if it had indeed expanded.
That meant the star stayed about the same size — and the planet, roughly the size of Jupiter, came to it. Over millions of years, the planet edged closer and closer. Eventually, it grazed the star’s outer atmosphere until it was completely reeled in. The results and new conclusions are published in The Astrophysical Journal.
The collision caused a giant explosion, creating a swirling disk of gas and dust. By studying the aftermath, Webb detected molecules like carbon monoxide around the star.
“The planet eventually started to graze the star’s atmosphere. Then it was a runaway process of falling in faster from that moment,” said Morgan MacLeod of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in a statement. “The planet, as it’s falling in, started to sort of smear around the star.”
As a Jupiter-sized planet passes through its star’s atmosphere, its orbit shrinks, eventually colliding and spewing material into a ring around the star.
Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Ralf Crawford illustration
Unlike giant stars that explode into a supernova and collapse into a black hole, a medium star like the sun suffers a more tortured end by dying slowly. A so-called “planetary nebula” — a confusing misnomer because stars cause them, not planets — is a phenomenon made from the molted layers of an elderly star. Such spectacular clouds of gas and dust occur when a star withers away as it loses nuclear fuel.
Astronomers expect this is the future of the sun in about 5 billion years, though scientists still have a lot to learn about these events.
It would be impossible to watch a single star go through its entire lifecycle for obvious reasons: That would take billions of years, said Paul Sutter, a professor at Stony Brook University and author of How to Die in Space, in a 2022 interview with Mashable. But experts have been able to predict this kind of death for some planets by studying many stars at different intervals and how they interact with their surroundings at each age.
“It’s like taking a snapshot of everyone on the Earth in one moment. You can’t capture one person’s lifetime, but you can see people being born, you can see people playing soccer in elementary school, and you can see people getting married. You can see people dying, getting sick,” said Sutter, who wasn’t involved in the new study. “You can reconstruct the life cycle of a person by putting together all these separate pieces, so we have a general picture of how stars evolve and how they live.”
Webb’s investigation of the gas in the aftermath prompts more questions for researchers about what actually transpired once the star swallowed the planet. Scientists hope to find and study others to collect more data.
Entertainment
Best Mothers Day gifts: Show mom some love
Mother figures are the backbone of the world. Yours may be your biological mother, or maybe she’s your mother-in-law, your best friend’s mom, or simply someone whose motherly instinct has helped you through hard times.
Moms teach you the adulting necessities, give advice even if the problem is your fault, and above all, they put up with your shit and (almost) never complain.
The game plan here isn’t just to snag the last bouquet at CVS just so you’re not the kid who forgot Mother’s Day (but definitely also get flowers). And you don’t even need to spend a lot of money. (Peep our list of Mother’s Day gifts that cost less than $50. Want even more cheap gift ideas?
Skip the generic mugs and show your appreciation with a gift picked just for her: Whether it’s something to make a part of her life easier, something she’s mentioned wanting in passing, or simply something to make her feel like a damn queen, you can’t put a price on everything she’s done for you, but heartfelt gifts certainly help.
After all, they say “No matter how hard you try, you always end up like your mother.” But is that even a bad thing?
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Ban subscriptions and get Microsoft Office 2024 for life for just £121
TL;DR: Grab Microsoft Office 2024 Home and Business for PC or Mac for just £120.54 through June 1.
You wouldn’t keep paying for Netflix if you could own your favorite shows, right? So why are you still subscribing to Office apps you use every day? Microsoft 365’s price keeps going up, but there’s finally a way to break free — and it’ll cost you way less in the long run.
Microsoft Office 2024 is the answer you’ve been looking for. Instead of monthly payments, simply pay £120.54 once and be set for life (reg. £188.37). It’s that simple. And, yes, this lifetime download works for PC or Mac.
What’s included?
This license comes with:
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Word
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Excel
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PowerPoint
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Outlook
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OneNote
The newest version of Microsoft Office is a little different from Microsoft 365. But just because you’re switching to a lifetime license doesn’t mean you’ll miss out on some of the most recent updates. Word and Excel both still have AI integrations for text suggestions and smart data analysis, and PowerPoint still has improved tools for recorded presentations.
Once you’ve redeemed your purchase, you can install your apps on one computer. After that, they’re yours to use however you want. No more subscription fees or sudden price hikes to worry about.
Why rent when you can own?
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Get a Microsoft Office lifetime license on sale for £120.54 with no coupon needed.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Entertainment
Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 9, 2025
Oh hey there! If you’re here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we’re serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today’s answer.
If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?
Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?
The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.
Is Wordle getting harder?
It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.
Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:
Gibberish.
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Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?
There are no recurring letters.
Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter T.
The Wordle answer today is…
Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to today’s Wordle is…
TRIPE.
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.
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Best Mothers Day gifts: Show mom some love
