A compact system of small planets around a former red-giant star

Details A compact system of small planets around a former red-giant star A compact system of small planets around a former red-giant star

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011natur.480..496c&link_type=abstract

Nature, Volume 480, Issue 7378, pp. 496-499 (2011).

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

3

Scientific paper

Planets that orbit their parent star at less than about one astronomical unit (1AU is the Earth-Sun distance) are expected to be engulfed when the star becomes a red giant. Previous observations have revealed the existence of post-red-giant host stars with giant planets orbiting as close as 0.116AU or with brown dwarf companions in tight orbits, showing that these bodies can survive engulfment. What has remained unclear is whether planets can be dragged deeper into the red-giant envelope without being disrupted and whether the evolution of the parent star itself could be affected. Here we report the presence of two nearly Earth-sized bodies orbiting the post-red-giant, hot B subdwarf star KIC 05807616 at distances of 0.0060 and 0.0076AU, with orbital periods of 5.7625 and 8.2293 hours, respectively. These bodies probably survived deep immersion in the former red-giant envelope. They may be the dense cores of evaporated giant planets that were transported closer to the star during the engulfment and triggered the mass loss necessary for the formation of the hot B subdwarf, which might also explain how some stars of this type did not form in binary systems.

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