Dead Star Demolishes Planet – Offering A Glimpse Into How The Earth Could End Its Days

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A disintergating asteroid caught in the gravitational pull of a white dwarf star: could this be the future fate of the Earth? Mark A. Garlick

Astronomers have made the first direct discovery of a white dwarf star being orbited by a disintegrating minor planet that will ultimately collide into it. The observation, made by the Kepler space telescope, offers a glimpse into what could happen to the Earth in a few billion years as the Sun, like most stars, becomes a white dwarf.