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posted by CoolHand on Friday October 23 2015, @12:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the don't-mess-with-a-dwarf dept.

NASA's Kepler space telescope has found a small exoplanet being torn apart by a white dwarf star:

The devastated planetesimal, or cosmic object formed from dust, rock, and other materials, is estimated to be the size of a large asteroid, and is the first planetary object to be confirmed transiting a white dwarf. It orbits its white dwarf, WD 1145+017, once every 4.5 hours. This orbital period places it extremely close to the white dwarf and its searing heat and shearing gravitational force.

During its first observing campaign from May 30, 2014 to Aug. 21, 2014, K2 trained its gaze on a patch of sky in the constellation Virgo, measuring the minuscule change in brightness of the distant white dwarf. When an object transits or passes in front of a star from the vantage point of the space telescope, a dip in starlight is recorded. The periodic dimming of starlight indicates the presence of an object in orbit about the star.

A research team led by Vanderburg found an unusual, but vaguely familiar pattern in the data. While there was a prominent dip in brightness occurring every 4.5 hours, blocking up to 40 percent of the white dwarf's light, the transit signal of the tiny planet did not exhibit the typical symmetric U-shaped pattern. It showed an asymmetric elongated slope pattern that would indicate the presence of a comet-like tail. Together these features indicated a ring of dusty debris circling the white dwarf, and what could be the signature of a small planet being vaporized.

[...] In addition to the strangely shaped transits, Vanderburg and his team found signs of heavier elements polluting the atmosphere of WD 1145+017, as predicted by theory. Due to intense gravity, white dwarfs are expected to have chemically pure surfaces, covered only with light elements of helium and hydrogen. For years, researchers have found evidence that some white dwarf atmospheres are polluted with traces of heavier elements such as calcium, silicon, magnesium and iron. Scientists have long suspected that the source of this pollution was an asteroid or a small planet being torn apart by the white dwarf's intense gravity.

A disintegrating minor planet transiting a white dwarf [abstract]


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:03AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @02:03AM (#253484)

    I read the title Kerbal Mission sports a Vaporizing Exoplanet Orbiting a White Dwarf and thought there had been a cool new update.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @04:02PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 23 2015, @04:02PM (#253632)

    And I wondered since when they have a telescope on K2. [wikipedia.org]