研究揭示衰老恆星如何摧毀鄰近行星
Research Reveals How Aging Stars Destroy Nearby Planets
倫敦大學學院與華威大學的最新研究證實，老化的恆星是宇宙中的行星吞噬者。
Recent research from University College London and the University of Warwick confirms that aging stars are cosmic planet eaters.
當恆星與我們的太陽相似，耗盡其氫燃料時，它們會轉變進入「紅巨星」階段，並顯著膨脹。
As stars similar to our Sun exhaust their hydrogen fuel, they transition into a "red giant" phase, expanding significantly.
此過程會觸發「恆星吞噬」，這是一種重力潮汐交互作用將鄰近行星向內拉扯的現象。
This process triggers "stellar engulfment," a phenomenon where gravitational tidal interactions pull nearby planets inward.
研究人員透過NASA的TESS任務分析了近五十萬顆恆星，發現近軌道巨型行星在演化後的恆星周圍極為罕見。
Analyzing nearly half a million stars through NASA’s TESS mission, researchers found that close-orbit giant planets are exceptionally rare around evolved stars.
雖然年輕恆星通常擁有此類行星，但其存在比例在最進階的紅巨星中驟降至僅0.11%。
While young stars often host such planets, their presence drops to just 0.11% in the most advanced red giants.
雖然我們的太陽很可能在約50億年後吞噬水星與金星，但並非所有行星都注定滅亡；有些行星若其宿主恆星的演化路徑因恆星合併等因素而改變，便可能倖存下來。
While our own Sun will likely consume Mercury and Venus in about 5 billion years, not all planets are doomed; some may survive if their host star's evolutionary path is altered, such as through stellar mergers.
理解這種「主序後」演化有助於天文學家繪製行星系統的長期命運，並為我們太陽鄰域的遙遠未來提供了一個觀察視窗。
Understanding this "post-main sequence" evolution helps astronomers map the long-term fate of planetary systems, providing a window into the distant future of our own solar neighborhood.
