Astronomy Cast Ep. 789: What Happens When a Planet's Star Dies
4/6/202629 min
Astronomy Cast Ep. 789: What Happens When a Planet's Star Dies By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Mar 30, 2026. A star like the Sun only lasts about 10 billion years and it becomes a red giant and finally a white dwarf. This is catastrophic for some of the planets, consumed by the expanding red giant star. But most survive. What happens next in the long, slow cooling to the background temperature of the Universe? This show is supported through people like you on Patreon.com/AstronomyCast In this episode, we'd like to thank: Burry Gowen, Eric Lee, Jeanette Wink, Michael...
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First 90 secondsFraser Cain· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Astronomy Cast, episode 789: What happens to planets when the stars die? Welcome to Astronomy Cast, our weekly facts-based journey through the cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know but how we know what we know. I'm Fraser Cain. I'm the publisher of Universe Today. With me, as always, is Dr. Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Sciences Group and the director of CosmoQuest. Hey, Pam. How you doing?
Pamela Gay· Host1:09
I, I am doing well, and I glitched it exactly the way it drives you crazy.
Fraser Cain· Host1:15
[laughs] It, it's not... Uh, no, no, no. Just to be clear, it does not drive me crazy at all. I never even noticed until one of our viewers mentioned this exact tic that you have. And now, I as a supportive