British astronomers from the Armagh Observatory in Ireland and University College London, with the participation of colleagues from other countries, discovered an unusual extinct star WD 0816-310 with visible traces of metallic debris that resemble a scar. The facility was the first of its kind. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Astrophysical Journal Letters (TAJL).
Extinct stars, or white dwarfs, form in the final stages of the existence of stars like our Sun. WD 0816-310 is an Earth-sized object with a mass roughly equivalent to the Sun.
According to the authors of the discovery, the main feature of WD 0816-310 was the metal traces that the white dwarf acquired by absorbing surrounding planets and asteroids like a zombie.
“It is well known that some white dwarfs, the slowly cooling cores of stars, eat up parts of planetary systems. “We have now discovered that the star’s magnetic field plays an important role in this process, resulting in a scar on the surface of the white dwarf,” said astronomer Stefano Bagnulo, leader of the scientific team.
Scientists also found the source of the metals found in WD 0816-310. It turned out to be part of a planet with a diameter of about 500 kilometers.
“Surprisingly, the material was not evenly distributed across the star’s surface as theory predicted. Instead, the scar is a concentrated patch of planetary material held in place by the same magnetic field that directs the falling pieces. We have never seen anything like it before,” the team said in a statement.
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Source: Gazeta
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