Celestia Forums

I forget if this has been asked before...

What would be the effect of the transition from red giant to white dwarf on (a) any remaining planets orbiting up to 100 AU from the star, and (b) planets orbiting a companion star between 1,000 and 6,000 AU from the red giant?

Would their remaining atmospheres be stripped off by the shedding of the outer layers? What effect would the ionisation of the material by the white dwarf have? Would the companion's magnetic field protect its system?

Oh Evil One,

You might want to read the paper Detecting Planets in Planetary Nebulae

It's dated 1998, but should include some useful info.

Thanks Selden! Interesting... I'll have to track down that Soker paper mentioned there too.

It also implies that if there are any terrestrial planets around a red giant star turning into a planetary nebula, they'll lose their atmospheres.

It didn't say much about planets that are around distant companion stars though - would they survive? Would the companion's magnetic field deflect the incoming material?