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In a first, a potentially life-supporting planet has been found orbiting such a star, called a “white dwarf”. The planet was detected in the star’s “habitable zone”, where it’s neither too cold nor too hot to sustain life. The research team do not have direct evidence of the planet’s existence but the movements of 65 Moon-sized structures orbiting the white dwarf’s habitable zone, suggest it is there. Here is all you need to know about it.
In a study published by the journal a star in the form of a white dwarf has been identified. Researchers are dubbing it as WD1054–226. The study for the same is published in the monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
While very large stars become black holes when they die, smaller ones like our own Sun become white dwarves – stars that have used up all their nuclear fuel and lost their outer layers. They are usually the size of a planet, and emit a bluish-white light when first formed. The possible planet, which is 117 light-years away from Earth, is thought to be 60 times closer to the star than our planet is to the Sun.
About the researchers who came up with this revelation?
A new study led by researchers from the University College of London announced the findings. The researchers behind this work observed WD1054-226 for 18 nights with the ESO’s New Technology Telescope (NTT) at their La Silla Observatory, observing dips in starlight as something passed between us and the star. They used the NTT’s ULTRACAM high-speed camera to capture data images of the white dwarf. They also examined data on the same star from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS.)
The team found dips in light that they interpret as 65 clouds of planetary debris. The clouds are evenly spaced and orbit the white dwarf every 25 hours. What causes such regularity? The researchers say that a planet must be there, which forces these debris clouds into a precise orbital pattern. They say the planet is similar in size to rocky planets in our Solar System and that it’s only about 2.5 million km (1.55 million miles) from the star. That’s about 1.7% of the distance between Earth and the Sun.
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