Dead planet seen crashing into star for first time is a preview of what will (eventually) happen to Earth

For the first time, astronomers have witnessed the remains of a planet tumble into a dead star — also known as a white dwarf.

In doing so they have been given a preview of what will happen to Earth when it's consumed by our sun billions of years from now.

The study was published February 9 in the journal Nature, and made possible with the use of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.

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As the remains of the planet collided with the host star x-rays from the planetary debris heated to a million degrees, scientists said in a statement.

"We have finally seen material actually entering the star's atmosphere," lead author, Dr Tim Cunningham of the University of Warwick Department of Physics, said.

"It is the first time we've been able to derive an accretion rate that doesn't depend on detailed models of the white dwarf atmosphere. What's quite remarkable is that it agrees extremely well with what's been done before.

"This detection provides the first direct evidence that white dwarfs are currently accreting the remnants of old planetary systems...offering a glimpse into the likely fate of the thousands of known exoplanetary systems, including our own Solar system."

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When stars, like the sun, exhaust the nuclear fuel that gives them their radiance they become white dwarfs.

It's estimated the sun will become a crystal white dwarf in about 10 billion years.