Our Sun is almost halfway through its lifespan, which is also true for planet Earth. When stars exhaust their nuclear hydrogen fuel, their diameter swells than a hundredfold, swallowing up any planets in close orbits.

Although this fate will not befall our solar system for at least five billion years, scientists have recently been able to observe a scene that may be a harbinger of the fate of our world.

An international research team relied on data from the TESS satellite, which specializes in observing exoplanets, and made a comprehensive comparison between star systems that are still in the “basic sequence” stage (where hydrogen atoms fuse, as in our current sun) and those that have reached an advanced stage of life after exhausting their fuel. The study reached a clear conclusion: the older the star, the fewer planets orbiting it. In other words, planets gradually disappear as their host stars age.

This disappearance is not due to the fact that these planets were not formed in the first place, but rather to destructive processes that occur during the late stages of the star’s life. In addition to the possibility of direct engulfment as the star turns into a red giant, the increased tidal forces resulting from the star’s inflation gradually erode the orbits of nearby planets, which could lead to them being stripped of their atmospheres or even completely ripped apart.