Overview
- Keck/HIRES spectra reveal 13 heavy elements in LSPM J0207+3331’s atmosphere, confirming active accretion of planetary debris.
- Elemental ratios indicate a differentiated parent body at least about 200 km wide was tidally disrupted inside the star’s Roche limit.
- The 3‑billion‑year‑old, hydrogen‑rich white dwarf sits roughly 145 light‑years away and hosts an unusually metal‑rich warm dust disk first noted in 2019.
- Researchers estimate the disturbance occurred within the last few million years, with surviving gas giants or a past stellar encounter proposed as leading triggers.
- The results, published Oct. 22 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, outline Gaia astrometry and JWST infrared observations to search for the suspected perturbers.