What would happen if a planet crashed into a neutron star?
We take a look at the answer to this intriguing question
The exoplanet would be destroyed. The average surface temperature of a neutron star is in the order of hundreds of thousands of degrees, this would vaporise almost any material that came in contact with it. Should a planetary body in orbit around the star fall into the neutron core it would be incinerated rapidly and explosively.
The likelihood that such a body would survive this kind of event is very low. Any bodies around the star would be greatly disrupted during the supernova event with a large proportion potentially being thrown from their parent Solar System. The search for these free-floating planets is underway in an attempt to confirm these theories.
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