This is how a white dwarf star is devouring its own planets – FayerWayer

The space telescope Hubble, managed by NASA and ESA scientists (European space agency) has competition with the arrival of the James Webb. But that does not mean that it is no longer useful for exploring the depths of the cosmos.

On the contrary, perhaps it can detect stellar events in distant regions that can later be seen in greater detail by its new younger brother. Four eyes see better than two, although in this case they would be lenses, mirrors and infrared instruments.

In the middle of last month, NASA announced that they had detected with Hubble what would be the first case of “cosmic cannibalism.” They qualify with this phrase the process in which a white dwarf star begins to devour its own planets.

The analyzes regarding this phenomenon advance and better details of the study are known. The scientists explain that they were surprised by the components they noticed in the atmosphere and surroundings of this star, which identified as G238-44.

The elements captured by Hubble correspond to those of the planets or rocks that surround regions similar to those of the asteroids that are located in the Asteroid Belt, comparing it with our Solar System.

The white dwarf that consumes planets captured by Hubble

The team led by Professor Johnson recorded the presence of nitrogen, oxygen, magnesium, silicon and iron in their measurements. They also detected iron in abundance and believe that this is evidence for metallic cores of terrestrial planets, such as Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury.

Unexpectedly, they also measured high levels of nitrogen that led them to conclude the presence of icy bodies.

“The best fit for our data was a nearly two-to-one mix of Mercury-like material and comet-like material, which is made up of ice and dust. Metallic iron and nitrogen ice each suggest very different conditions for planet formation. No object in the solar system is known to have as much of both,” Professor Johnson explained.