Is it possible for a star to become a planet? Science answers!

Even though the stars are millions of light years away, they continue to shine and create a visual spectacle for those who love the night sky. Because some of them shine so brightly, some believe they burn at too high a temperature, and who knows, Maybe at some point in the future they may explode and turn into another, more powerful cosmic object, such as a planet.

But this is not true. For most astronomers and scientists working in this field, it is not possible for a star to transform into Earth, Mars, Jupiter or another planet. The truth is that the birth process of such a large celestial body is much more complicated than it seems.

Researchers state that There is perhaps only one type of star that can ‘develop’ into a planet: they are brown dwarfs; transform is not the right word, in fact they may share some characteristics of planets. But some scientists don’t even think they’re real stars; others don’t think it will be a planet.

To explain a little better whether it is possible for a star to turn into a planet, TecMundo gathered information from astronomers and experts in the field. Check out!

Can a Star Become a Planet?

Physics professor Dr. from West Texas A&M University in the United States. According to Christopher S. Baird, Maybe it’s possible for a star to ‘turn into’ a planet.

However, the brown dwarf star, which is a celestial body that is not even considered a star by some astronomers; The most common argument is that they are not large enough to initiate the process of hydrogen nuclear fusion that occurs in an ordinary star. To contain, Other scientists point out that brown dwarfs can never become planets because they are located at the center of our Solar System.

The fact is that for many astronomers, brown dwarfs are considered a strange astronomical object, as they are much larger than some planets, but have less mass than most ordinary stars; For example, On average it is 13 times larger than Jupiter. Moreover, since its mass would not be sufficient to fuse ordinary hydrogen, it would not be able to undergo the same nuclear fusion process as normal stars.

“Some scientists do not consider brown dwarfs to be true stars because they do not have enough mass to initiate nuclear fusion of ordinary hydrogen. At the same time, other scientists do not consider brown dwarfs to be true planets because they are typically located at the center of the solar system, just like a star,” he said. explains Baird on his website.

Because ordinary stars are extremely massive, they can sustain the process of nuclear fusion and convert the ‘fuel’ hydrogen within them into heavier elements such as helium, carbon and iron. At the end of life ThisThese stars explode and spread various cosmic materials in the region, so the gases released during the explosion can help the formation of other stars.

Are brown dwarfs planets?

Brown dwarfs aren’t large enough to fuse ordinary hydrogen, so they eventually fuse deuterium (a heavier version of hydrogen). Besides, Like planets, brown stars cool as they age. Therefore Dr. Some scientists, like Baird, believe they may share some common characteristics with planets.but others disagree.

While ordinary stars and brown dwarfs are formed from gas left over from star explosions, planets are formed from combinations of heavier elements. In either case, planet formation is a complex process that involves more than just elements left over from an exploded star.

What might happen, as it has many other times, is this: Heavy elements released during a star explosion could help form a planet. But researchers think an ordinary star could never directly transform into a planet.

According to Kovi Rose, an astronomy doctoral student at the University of Sydney in Australia, it is possible that some brown dwarfs will be reclassified as planets in the future. He claims that scientists may experience a process similar to what happened when Pluto was downgraded to dwarf planet status; So researchers may begin to understand that brown dwarfs are something else, like planets.

“Scientists believe that planets, including those in our solar system, probably began as dust grains smaller than the width of a human hair. They emerge from a huge ring-shaped disk of gas and dust that surrounds young stars. Gravity and other forces cause material inside the disk to collide.” If the collision is gentle enough, the material melts together and grows like a rolling snowball,” explains NASA in a publication on planets.

Did you like the content? Stay up to date with more astronomy curiosities at TecMundo. If you want, find out when the first stars appeared in the Universe.