A demonstration of necroplanetology — a star has torn its entire system to shreds!
A unique composition of elements has been found in the atmosphere of a white dwarf 86 light years away from Earth. It shows that the star has absorbed both inner planets, similar to the rocky planets in the Solar System, and icy objects from the outskirts of the system.
How does a star die? It all depends on its size. If it is close to the Sun, the end of the star’s “ordinary” life will come when the fusion fuel that sustains the fusion reaction inside it burns out.
Then the dying star will begin to “inflate.” Its outer layers will expand, absorbing everything in their path. The star’s interior will gravitationally collapse into a small core. In astronomy, this is called a white dwarf.
White dwarfs are hot and extremely dense. They can be objects with the mass of the Sun, but with the radius of the Earth. It is worth remembering that the diameter of the Earth is more than a hundred times smaller than the diameter of the Sun.
A dying star, or an unusual white dwarf G238–44
At the recently concluded conference of the American Astronomical Society, a group of scientists presented the results of a study of a white dwarf designated G238–44. This object is located at a distance…
