Astronomers Spot a Planetary 'Suicide'

https://www.science.org/content/article/astronomers-spot-planetary-suicide

by rbanffy • 1 year ago

19 10 1 year ago

science.org

wormius• 1 year ago

I know this isn't the best comment, but uh...

I see a planetary suicide right now and I don't even need to look into space.

sysrestartusr• 1 year ago

not a suicide, it's more of a nice bonfire and someone keeps throwing in chemistry projects they found at a wholesale market

mrkstu• 1 year ago

Can someone explain the orbital mechanics of these sentences?:

The constant stretching of such tidal deformation would create friction within the planet that would soak up some of its orbital energy, causing it to edge closer to the star.

How exactly does the energy of tidal energy being expressed inside the planet affect its speed relative to its host star? There is no external friction in empty space so how does the speed disappear?

alganet3• 1 year ago

Think of a very unbalanced car wheel. It wobbles, interferes with the smooth road and eventually reduces the speed of the system.

A planet that stretches and contracts in orbit also wobbles, which does something similar to its orbit. Loss of speed often results in lowered orbit, and thus more wobbling, in a feedback loop.

heavenlyblue• 1 year ago

An unbalanced car wheel is hitting the road harder to it stops, an unbalanced planet is still flying in empty space, where does the energy go then?

amy214• 1 year ago

Exactly, the mass of the planet is squishy in this way. The next question is WHY is it question. The answer is, this planet is host to the hard metal band "Planetary Suicide", whose speakers are so powerful as to turn the planetary rock into more of a mud. At the pinnacle of their showpiece song, the planet flies into the sun. It was a great show but their 99 set was better

solid_fuel• 1 year ago

The energy is lost as heat - as the planet flexes some pieces are moved in opposing directions by the tidal forces. Those pieces rub against each other, transforming the gravitational energy into heat.

Astronomers Spot a Planetary 'Suicide'

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