Hubble Witnesses Stellar Cannibalism: White Dwarf Devours Icy ‘Exo-Pluto‘
WASHINGTON – The Hubble Space Telescope has captured unprecedented evidence of a white dwarf star actively consuming the remnants of a Pluto-sized world composed largely of ice, offering a chilling glimpse into the potential fate of our own solar system billions of years from now. researchers announced the findings on Sept. 18, publishing their work in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The observed white dwarf, located approximately 90 light-years from Earth, is surrounded by a disk of debris – the fragmented remains of an “exo-Pluto” torn apart by the star’s immense gravitational forces. This discovery provides a unique opportunity to study the composition of icy bodies beyond our solar system and understand the processes that occur when planetary systems age and their stars die.
“We’ve never seen a white dwarf consuming a body this icy before,” explained lead researcher Dr. Deepak Sahu of the space Telescope science Institute in Baltimore,Maryland. “It’s a preview of what will happen to our own solar system in the distant future.”
White dwarfs are the dense remnants of stars like our sun after they have fatigued their nuclear fuel. As they cool, their gravity can pull in nearby objects, including asteroids, comets, and even planets. The team used Hubble’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to analyze the ultraviolet light emitted by the debris disk, revealing a high concentration of heavy elements like magnesium, silicon, and iron – alongside important amounts of oxygen and sulfur, indicative of an icy composition.
The exo-Pluto was likely disrupted as it ventured too close to the white dwarf, succumbing to tidal forces. Hubble’s observations suggest the star is still actively accreting material from the wreckage. Studying this process allows scientists to infer the composition of the original icy world and gain insights into the formation and evolution of planetary systems.
“If an alien observer looks into our solar system in the far future, they might see the same kind of remains we see today around this white dwarf,” Sahu stated.
Researchers plan to follow up on this discovery with observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, utilizing its infrared capabilities to further analyze the composition of the debris and the white dwarf itself. This combined approach promises to unlock even more secrets about the dramatic end stages of stellar and planetary evolution.
