The white dwarf has the memorable name SDSS1228+1040, and it’s located about 463 light years away in the constellation Virgo. Astronomers think the star was once a main sequence star like our own Sun, but then it ended that phase of its life and became a white dwarf about 100 million years ago.
Observers from the University of Warwick were analyzing the light from the star, and discovered that that it had additional metals superimposed over top of it. This means that there are large quantities of iron, magnesium and calcium located in a ring around the star, extending out about 1.2 solar radii, or 800,000 km (500,000 miles).
It’s believed that a fairly large object, like an asteroid, strayed to close to the the star and was torn apart by the powerful gravitational tides. The ring of rubble was then evaporated by radiation from the white dwarf.
This scenario gives an example of what our Solar System might look like 5 to 8 billion years from now, after our own Sun runs out of fuel, expands as a red giant, and then collapses down to a white dwarf. Having consumed the inner planets in its initial expansion, it’ll then snack on asteroids for billions of years after that.
Multiple space agencies are looking to send crewed missions to the Moon's southern polar region…
Last November, NASA's Lucy mission conducted a flyby of the asteroid Dinkinish, one of the…
Steven Hawking famously calculated that black holes should evaporate, converting into particles and energy over…
NASA has given the go-ahead for SpaceX to work out a plan to adapt its…
The JWST is astronomers' best tool for probing exoplanet atmospheres. Its capable instruments can dissect…
First light for the Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO) is quickly approaching and the telescope is…