Planet skeletons orbit dead star

摘要

Atightly odribitingrpdairreofor smaller-thand-Earth-sizedapslaalnretsdy passed through its red giant phase, suggesting that planets of our own Solar System may live beyond the Sun's eventual similar fate.The planets were detected during NASA's Kepler Asteroseismic Investigation of a star already known for its pulsations, KIC 05807616, but two weak patterns that were not found to be related to the star's heartbeat stood out in the observations. Periodic dimming and brightening every 5.8 and 8.2 hours were found to correspond to changing amounts of starlight reflected off the planets.