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Exoplanets discovered
The remains of two planets closely orbiting a dying star some 3,900 light years away have given
astronomers a glimpse of what may happen at the demise of our own solar system about five
billion years from now.
Named KOI 55.01 and KOI 55.02, the planets orbit a sun that has passed the “red giant” stage — When our sun swells up to become a
a star that has burned up most of its fuel and becomes larger and larger, according to the study,
published recently in the journal Nature.
red giant it will engulf the Earth. If a
tiny planet like the Earth spends a
billion years in an environment like
Two survivors of their system that, it will just evaporate. Only plan-
√ The two exoplanets, named KOI 55.01 KOI 55.02 EARTH ets with masses very much larger than
KOI 55.01 and KOI 55.02, are the Earth, like Jupiter or Saturn, could
likely the remnants of gas
giant planets that were possibly survive.
roasted by the bloating star’s
fiery envelope. — Elizabeth Green of the University
of Arizona’s Steward Observatory.
√ They are now reduced to
their single dense core,
DIAMETER 9,662 km 11,060 km 12,713 km
consisting mostly of iron
and other heavy elements. DISTANCE 3,900 light years from home
FROM THE SUN 897,000 km 1,137,000 km 150,000,000 km
√ The pair are respectively Based on data from the U.S.
76% and 87% the size of ORBIT 576 hrs 823 hrs 36,525 days satellite Kepler team of Milky Way
the Earth, but were researchers by analyzing
probably many times SURFACE 8,000 - 9,000 ºC 8,000 - 9,000 ºC 15 ºC the pulsations of the star
larger. TEMPERATURE KIC 05807616 (located
in the vicinity of the
constellations of
The host star Cygnus and Lyra)
Cygnus Lyra
One light year equals 9,460 billion km
1 The host star of the two
exoplanets is a subdwarf B 2 Reaching the end of its
life, it swelled into a red
3 Having migrated so close, the
exoplanets probably plunged deep
star, composed of the exposed giant, releasing a large into the star’s envelope during the
core of a red giant that has amount of gravitational red giant phase, but survived. The NASA launched the Kepler Space
lost most of its fiery energy. two observed bodies would then be Telescope in 2009 to survey a
KOI 55.02
envelope, the dense cores of ancient giant portion of our region of the Milky
and burns at about KIC 05807616 planets whose gaseous Way galaxy to discover dozens of
28,000 Kelvin, envelopes were Earth-size planets in or near the
or 27,760 C. vaporized during the habitable zone and determine
KOI 55.01
immersion phase. how many of the billions of stars
in our galaxy have such planets.

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