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yesterday

3-Billion-Year-Old White Dwarf Is Actively Devouring Rocky Debris, Study Finds

High-resolution spectra reveal 13 heavy elements in the oldest, most metal-rich debris disk around a hydrogen-rich white dwarf, prompting searches for a distant planetary perturber.

A 3-billion-year-old white dwarf, the core of a dead star, consumed an exoplanet from its former planetary system.
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Overview

  • Keck/HIRES observations of LSPM J0207+3331, 145 light-years away, confirm ongoing accretion from a metal-rich debris disk.
  • The star’s hydrogen-dominated atmosphere shows 13 elements consistent with recently ingested rocky material.
  • Modeling points to the tidal disruption of a body at least about 120 miles (200 kilometers) wide within the past few million years.
  • Researchers say the discovery indicates delayed dynamical instability can persist billions of years after stellar death.
  • The team plans Gaia astrometry and JWST infrared searches to test for distant giant planets or other triggers, with results published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.