Dead Star Caught Violently Tearing Up Planetary System
This illustration shows a white dwarf star siphoning off debris from shattered objects in a planetary system. The Hubble Space Telescope detects the spectral signature of the vaporized debris that revealed a combination of rocky-metallic and icy material, the ingredients of planets. The findings help describe the violent nature of evolved planetary systems and the composition of their disintegrating bodies. Credit: NASA, ESA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
Both Rocky and Icy Bodies Were Identified Among the Debris on the Surface of a White Dwarf Star
“Bring out your dead!” rings in the air in the classic movie “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” a merry parallel to what’s happening around a
A star’s death throes have so violently disrupted its planetary system that the dead star left behind, called a white dwarf, is siphoning off debris from both the…
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