French Scientist Explains How Planets Die In Space

Planets, celestial bodies and the cosmos have intrigued humanity since time immemorial and we have studied everything beyond the earth’s atmosphere through astronomy. Among many interesting facts that astronomy has revealed to us, one is the supposed lifespan of a planet. We know that many planets existing in and beyond our solar system had been formed millions and millions of years ago, probably from the time of the Big Bang. So how long will these planets last? Will they be there for eternity or will they be destroyed at some point? Will earth also meet a similar fate? Let us delve deep into these questions.

French scientist Sean Raymond has explained in Space.com how a planet’s life can end. Raymond explains that millions of planets keep dying in space. If the planet gets too close to its star, it will be absorbed into it before the star’s gravity ends. The possibility that they will die after colliding with a comet or other big object cannot be ruled out as well.

According to Raymond, smaller asteroids must inevitably exist in a solar system that is made up of more than just stars and planets. Smaller rocky planets may vanish as a result of adjacent planets colliding with larger ones as the star’s gravitational pull weakens. In this kind of scenario, there’s a good chance that asteroids will eventually begin crashing into Earth, and there’s also a chance that large planets like Jupiter or Saturn would crash into Earth at the same time. But there is no need to worry as this will not happen before a million years and we may have colonised other planets by then.

If that does not happen, the death of earth is inevitable as it will ultimately be swallowed by the sun. It will likely take 4.5 billion years for the sun to grow into a massive red giant and eventually swallow the planet. According to the European Space Agency, a red giant arises in the last stages of stellar evolution when the star runs out of gas to fuel its nuclear fusion and therefore begins to die. This means that the ultimate curtain call for our planet is linked to our sun either way.