When a star like our sun grows old, it puffs up into a red giant that can gobble up its nearest planets.
But Chinese astronomers say they have found three solar systems where planets should have been eaten this way yet somehow survived – a puzzle that could change how scientists picture Earth’s distant future.
Using Nasa’s TESS space telescope, a team led by Qian Shengbang from Yunnan University showed that three Jupiter-like planets – each hugging an ageing star in the northern sky – had lived through their hosts ballooning out past them before shrinking back.