small star orbiting close to a dying star.

[Dartz]

So, if a red dwarf star were orbiting extremely close to a sun-like star, (like a Venus or Earth orbit) what would happen to the red dwarf when the yellow dwarf becomes a red giant?

[smjjames]

The red dwarf would certainly suck some of the stellar material from the companion, but other than that, I'm not exactly sure.

[FiahOwl]

This message is only viewable with Universe Sandbox Galaxy Edition. Access it and much more with promo-code '67731'.

[vh]

Extremely close leaves room for discussion of exactly how close. However, if they stars were close enough, gas would be exchanged until the mass of both stars we pretty much the same at which point the gas exchange would stop. They'd also bulge out and look more like an egg than a sphere.

[Wanderlust]

Could the star be absorbed by the bigger one and completely destroyed? Would that have some impact ont he continued evolution of the dying star?

[vh]

I read an article about a star cluster, i cannot remember the name. It's a very old cluster, yet the stars are still young and blue. The cause is because hydrogen from younger stars is being sucked into older stars.

[Dartz]

Extremely close leaves room for discussion of exactly how close.

By close I meant something like a Venus or Earth orbit. Something that the star would engulf when it reaches its' red giant stage.

[vh]

That's pretty close for orbiting stars

anyway, stars orbiting very close could be called contact binary stars; part of their gasses are in each other's roche limit. When this happens, gas is taken from the surface of both stars and surrounds them both in a common envelope-like covering. This gas causes friction which slows down the orbit of the stars so they fall inwards, and eventually merge.