Planets near dying stars can suck up the star's energy until they glow so bright we can see them all on their own.
March 20, 2026
Original Paper
Wind accretion onto planets orbiting an evolving Solar-like star and their detectability
arXiv · 2603.18525
The Takeaway
Astronomers have struggled to find planets around aging stars, but this study suggests we've been looking for the wrong thing. Instead of dark rocks, these planets may be capturing and burning the massive amounts of gas shed by their host stars, making them much easier to detect than previously thought.
From the abstract
As stars evolve, they undergo significant changes in their physical properties, which can have a profound impact on the planets orbiting them. In particular, the mass lost through stellar wind may be partially accreted by orbiting planets. We present the results of 18 simulations of one-planet systems with planetary masses of 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10, and 13~$\mathrm{M}_\mathrm{J}$, each at initial orbital distances of 5, 10, and 20~AU, orbiting a 2~M$_\odot$ star through its red giant branch and ther