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Discovery challenges understanding of planetary system evolution
Media Contact: Meagan O’Shea
Maunakea, Hawaiʻi – Astronomers utilizing information from the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaiʻi Island have recognized a uncommon, historical planetary system nonetheless being actively consumed by its central white dwarf star, LSPM J0207+3331.
Located 145 light-years from Earth, this technique hosts the oldest and most heavy metal-rich particles disk ever noticed round a hydrogen-rich white dwarf, elevating new questions in regards to the long-term stability of planetary methods billions of years after stellar loss of life when fusion has ended within the star. The research, led by Érika Le Bourdais of the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets at Université de Montréal, is printed in The Astrophysical Journal.
“This discovery challenges our understanding of planetary system evolution,” mentioned Le Bourdais. “Ongoing accretion at this stage suggests white dwarfs may also retain planetary remnants still undergoing dynamical changes.”
Spectroscopic information obtained utilizing the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) instrument on Keck I revealed the white dwarf’s environment is polluted with 13 chemical parts, proof of a rocky physique not less than 120 miles large (200 kilometers) that was torn aside by the star’s gravity.
“This is one of the very few times we can see direct evidence of planets being ripped apart and falling onto a dead star,” mentioned Keck Observatory Chief Scientist John O’Meara. “We don’t have many of these systems where we see polluted white dwarfs. This particular system has the largest amount of heavy elements seen to date which proves it was an old, rocky planet.”
Hydrogen-rich atmospheres round white dwarfs usually masks such elemental signatures, making this detection particularly vital. “Something clearly disturbed this system long after the star’s death,” mentioned co-investigator John Debes of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. “There’s still a reservoir of material capable of polluting the white dwarf, even after billions of years.”
Why the Delay?
Nearly half of all polluted white dwarfs present indicators of accreting heavy parts, indicating their planetary methods have been dynamically disturbed. In the case of LSPM J0207+3331, a current perturbation— inside the previous couple of million years—most likely despatched a rocky planet spiraling inward.
“This suggests tidal disruption and accretion mechanisms remain active long after the main-sequence phase of a star’s life,” mentioned Debes. “Mass loss during stellar evolution can destabilize orbits, affecting planets, comets, and asteroids.”
The system might exemplify delayed instability, the place multi-planet interactions regularly destabilize orbits over billions of years. “This could point to long-term dynamical processes we don’t yet fully understand,” Debes added.
Searching for Outer Planets
Astronomers are actually investigating what might have triggered the disruption. Surviving Jupiter-sized planets might be accountable however are troublesome to detect because of their separation from the white dwarf and low temperatures. Data from European Space Agency’s Gaia area telescope could also be delicate sufficient to detect such planets via their gravitational affect on the white dwarf.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope might additionally present insights by taking infrared observations of the system for indicators of outer planets. “Future observations may help distinguish between a planetary shakeup or the gravitational effect of a stellar close encounter with the white dwarf,” mentioned Debes.
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ABOUT HIRES
The High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) produces spectra of single objects at very excessive spectral decision, but masking a large wavelength vary. It does this by separating the sunshine into many “stripes” of spectra stacked throughout a mosaic of three massive CCD detectors. HIRES is legendary for locating exoplanets. Astronomers additionally use HIRES to check necessary astrophysical phenomena like distant galaxies and quasars, and discover cosmological clues in regards to the construction of the early universe, simply after the Big Bang.
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