[Epoch Times, June 20, 2021](Epoch Times reporter Di Rui compiled a report) Pinball is a coin-operated game invented in 1934. The ball in it is between various obstacles and is in gravitational force. Under the action of, the running path is full of randomness, which fascinates players.
A recent study simulated the future evolution of a stellar system only 135 light-years away from the Earth, and found that when the stars inside die and become white dwarfs, the motion paths of the four planets that are normally orbiting in the system will resemble marbles. Like marbles in Taiwanese games, it is also full of uncertainty.
Astronomers study the evolution of stars. Some simulate the development of a star system from the birth of a star to a rich star system; some simulate the development of the system after the death of a star to speculate on the previous history of the white dwarf that is now seen. This study is the latter, to examine what the white dwarf system may have experienced before.
This study by the University of Warwick and the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom selected the HR 8799 star system, because the orbits of the four planets in it are amazing, so astronomers are very curious about the future What will be the “destiny” of these planets after the stars die.
The star in this system is a class A star with an age of approximately 30-40 million years. Four unusually large planets orbit it. The mass of each planet is more than five times that of Jupiter, and they orbit the star very close.
There are also two dust disks in this system, one inside the innermost planetary orbit, and the other outside the outermost planetary orbit.
It is amazing that the orbital periods of these four planets are all a perfect 2 times difference from each other. In other words, when the outermost planet orbits the star once, the second star inside it orbits exactly 2 times, and the third planet inside orbits exactly 4 times, and the innermost planet orbits exactly 4 times. It took exactly 8 weeks to detour.
Research estimates that despite the effects of the tidal forces of the Milky Way and the influence of foreign stars passing by the system occasionally, this system can still maintain this state for the next 3 billion years. However, once the star enters the red giant phase, the perfect balance of the system will cease to exist. Next, the volume of the star will expand to several hundred times its original size, and a layer of outer shell will be removed, leaving only half of its original mass, and finally become a white dwarf star.
The simulation results show that any one factor, even the smallest one, will cause the final position of each planet to be completely different.
Research leader Dimitri Veras of the Department of Physics of the University of Warwick said: “The fate of these planets will be full of possibilities under the mutual influence of gravity. In one case, the innermost planet will be ejected. This system; in another case, the planets in the third orbit are ejected from the system; or the planets in the second and fourth orbits exchange their positions. Any factor Small changes will result in a combination of possible scenarios.”
Although there are so many uncertain possibilities for the future positions of these planets, the researchers believe that the only certain situation is that when these planets are moving, they will pick up the matter in the two dust disks and throw them into the star’s atmosphere. within. This kind of material is an important clue to the history of the white dwarf system that astronomers are studying today.
“These planets move in different positions around the white dwarf, and it is easy to kick the dust from where they pass onto the white dwarf, thereby contaminating the white dwarf.” Vilas said.
The research was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on May 14. ◇
Editor in charge: Zhu Hanru
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