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BUSINESS Friday 5 May 2023
A13

HEALTH
Galactic gobble: Star swallows planet in one big gulp

DOCTOR ON DUTY
Oranjestad
By MARCIA DUNN Hospital 7:00 pm / 10:00pm
AP Aerospace Writer Tel. 527 4000
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. San Nicolas
(AP) — For the first time, sci- Imsan 24 hours
entists have caught a star Tel.524 8833
in the act of swallowing a Women in Difficulties
planet not just a nibble or PHARMACY ON DUTY
bite, but one big gulp.
Astronomers on Wednes- Oranjestad:
Dakota: Tel. 588 7364
day reported their obser- Aloe: Tel. 584 4606
vations of what appeared
to be a gas giant around Women in Difficulties
the size of Jupiter or big- OTHER
ger being eaten by its star. Dental Clinic 587 9850
The sun-like star had been Blood Bank Aruba 587 0002
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eons and finally got so big Walk-In Doctor’s Clinic
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orbiting planet. EMERGENCY
It’s a gloomy preview of
what will happen to Earth Police 100
when our sun morphs into a This illustration provided Caltech/IPAC by depicts a planet skimming the surface of its star. Oranjestad 527 3140
527 3200
Noord
red giant and gobbles the Associated Press Sta. Cruz 527 2900
four inner planets. San Nicolas 584 5000
“If it’s any consolation, this Institute of Technology’s star WASP-12 in the process ets around other stars will Police Tipline 11141
will happen in about 5 bil- Palomar Observatory. It of eating its planet. suffer the same fate as this Ambulancia 911
lion years,” said co-author took additional observa- “This is a different sort of one did and, eventually, so Fire Dept. 115
Morgan MacLeod of the tions and data-crunching eating. This star gobbled a will our solar system. Red Cross 582 2219
Harvard-Smithsonian Cen- to unravel the mystery: In- whole planet in one gulp,” “All that we see around us, TAXI SERVICES
ter for Astrophysics. stead of a star gobbling up Haswell said in an email. all the stuff that we’ve built Taxi Tas 587 5900
This galactic feast hap- its companion star, this one “In contrast, WASP-12 b around us, this will all be Prof. Taxi 588 0035
pened between 10,000 had devoured its planet. and the other hot Jupiters gone in a flash,” De said.q Taxi D.T.S. 587 2300
and 15,000 years ago near Given a star’s lifetime of we have previously studied Taxi Serv. Aruba 583 3232
the Aquila constellation billions of years, the swal- are being delicately licked A1 Taxi Serv. 280 2828
when the star was around low itself was quite brief and nibbled.” Women in Difficulties
10 billion years old. As the occurring in essentially one Astronomers don’t know if TRAVEL INFO
planet went down the fell swoop, said Caltech’s more planets are circling Aruba Airport 524 2424
stellar hatch, there was a Mansi Kasliwal, who was this star at a safer distance. American Airlines 582 2700
swift hot outburst of light, part of the study. If so, De said they may Avianca 588 0059
followed by a long-last- The findings are “very plau- have thousands of years Jet Blue 588 2244
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brightly in cold infrared en- an astrophysicist at Britain’s second or third course. Women in Difficulties
ergy, the researchers said. Open University, who had Now that they know what AID FOUNDATIONS
While there had been pre- no role in the research. Has- to look for, the researchers FAVI- Visually Impaired
vious signs of other stars well led a team in 2010 that will be on the lookout for Tel. 582 5051
nibbling at planets and used the Hubble Space more cosmic gulps. They Alcoholics Anonymous
their digestive aftermath, Telescope to identify the suspect thousands of plan- Tel. 736 2952
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swallow itself was ob- Tel. 583 8989
served, according to the Fundacion Contra Violencia
study appearing in the Relacional Tel. 583 5400
journal Nature. Centre for Diabetes
Massachusetts Institute of Tel. 524 8888
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Kishalay De spotted the
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while reviewing sky scans General Info
taken by the California
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