General relativity may preserve habitable planets around white dwarfs

7 Mwezi wa kumi, 2025 Imeripotiwa na AI

A new study suggests that Einstein's general relativity could prevent tidal heating from destabilizing rocky planets in the tight habitable zones of white dwarfs. Researchers found that orbital precession caused by the theory's effects might decouple inner planets from larger companions, allowing life to persist for trillions of years. This challenges prior models that predicted runaway greenhouse effects on such worlds.