The eerie green light of auroras may help astronomers discover surviving planets around one of the scariest types of “cosmic monsters.”
According to Science Alert, an international study indicates that auroras can be found around “incredible” exoplanets that orbit pulsars, one of the most extreme objects in the universe.
Pulsars are a type of “zombie” star.
A view on a planet orbiting a “zombie” – (Image: TS2 SPACE)
While normal stars like the Sun, after they “die the first time,” become white dwarfs, larger stars collapse into neutron stars, which are much smaller than white dwarfs but have significantly higher energy.
Pulsars are a type of extremely powerful neutron star that spins rapidly and emits radio waves.
Both white dwarfs and neutron stars—including pulsars—were previously thought to be “zombies” around which no planets could survive.
However, recent studies have shown that some planets may be lucky enough to survive even after their parent star has become a “zombie.”
A team of scientists from the Polish Academy of Sciences, Silesian University (Czech Republic), the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Taiwan – China), Carlos III University of Madrid (Spain), the International Space Science Institute, and the University of Bern (Switzerland) have identified a way to hunt for these mysterious planets.
Auroras, often featuring a ghostly green color, are commonly seen on Earth and are produced when charged particles from the Sun collide with the atmosphere surrounding a planet.
The new research indicates that pulsars can also generate auroras on the surviving planets around them. These auroras could even be detected using current human technologies.
It is estimated that about 0.5% of pulsars still retain a companion planet.
The scientists have simulated these strange pairs, focusing on millisecond pulsars and their orbiting planets, while considering the potential for detecting these planets based on radio emissions.
Experimental results on two candidate planets without their own magnetic fields show that signals from the auroras of these planets align with the capabilities of two observatories: the LOFAR radio telescope array (spanning seven European countries) and the SKA, which is currently under construction in Australia and South Africa.
This opens a new door for humanity to look into planets that are “in the hands of death,” meaning dead stars. It is also a way to predict the fate of Earth five billion years from now, when the Sun will also turn into a “zombie.”
