The fate of the Earth? We discovered the remains of a planet following the violent death of its parent star

If it weren’t for the sun constantly showering us with energy, there would be no life on Earth.

• Christopher Manser
• The Conversation

But eventually stars like it run out of fuel, expand into red giants and finally collapse into small, faint objects called white dwarfs.

So what will happen to us and the other planets in our solar system when the sun dies?

It’s not been entirely clear.

Now my colleagues and I have spotted the possible core remnant of a planet orbiting the white dwarf SDSSJ122859.93+104032.9, residing some 410 light years away.

Our results, published in Science, offer important clues about the fate of the planets in our own solar system.

Scientists have identified thousands of “exoplanets” orbiting stars other than the…

• The fate of the…