The Fiery Fate of Exoplanets
Joleen Carlberg of the Space Telescope Science Institute
What happens to planets when their stars begin to die? For many planets discovered outside our solar system, the answer is a trip into the fiery depths of their host star. The most successful ways that astronomers discover exoplanets are biased toward finding both large planets and planets orbiting close to their host stars. Consequently, the population of known exoplanets includes a sizeable subpopulation of massive planets in tiny orbits. During the late stages of its life, a star will expand 10 to 100 times—well beyond the orbits of many of these exoplanets. Such planetary engulfment can alter the properties of the host star. Dr. Joleen Carlberg will discuss various scenarios of these planet swallowing events as well as the observational clues they may leave behind.
Host: Dr. Frank Summers of the Space Telescope Science Institute
Recorded live on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
More information: https://hubblesite.org/resource-gallery/learning-resources/public-lecture-series