A colossal stellar flare, exceeding the intensity of even the most powerful solar flare emitted by our sun, may have been triggered by a star’s violent act of tearing apart and consuming a massive gas giant planet.

Recent research offers a potential solution to the enigma surrounding the luminosity surge observed in the young protostar FU Ori, situated 1,200 light-years away from Earth.

This celestial object experienced a substantial increase in brightness approximately 85 years ago and has since remained brighter than expected, Space reports.

Astronomers have speculated that this brightness surge in FU Ori is a consequence of matter being drawn from a disk composed of scorching hot gas and dust surrounding the young star and delivered to its surface.

A simulation conducted by a team from the University of Leicester suggests that this extraordinarily energetic event occurred when a planet with a mass ten times that of Jupiter approached too closely to the developing star.

As a result, this super-Jupiter underwent what the researchers term as “extreme evaporation,” disintegrating within a searingly hot maelstrom of material swirling around the star.

Subsequently, remnants of the planet were consumed by the star, completing the process.

Written by staff