Astronomers spot a star swallowing a planet: Earth will meet a similar fate in 5 billion years.

As a star runs out of fuel, it will billow out to a million times its original size, engulfing any matter -- and planets -- in its wake. Scientists have observed hints of stars just before, and shortly after, the act of consuming entire planets, but they have never caught one in the act until now. In a study that will appear in Nature, scientists at MIT, Harvard University, Caltech, and elsewhere report that they have observed a star swallowing a planet, for the first time. The planetary demise appears...