Post by Teye22 on Oct 27, 2015 5:52:02 GMT -6
This is quite the find! Isnt it amazing what they can find from a dimming light source located light years away?
link to article
For the first time, scientists have witnessed the dying moments of a solar system that may once have been similar to our own.
Researchers have spotted pieces of an asteroid or rocky planet, similar to those in our own solar system, circling a white dwarf star – the final stage in the life cycle of a star like the sun. The object has fallen toward the star and is now so close that it's being shredded by the star's gravity.
"We're watching the destruction of a solar system," said Patrick Dufour, a University of Montreal physicist who co-authored the paper describing the research. Dufour is a member of the university's Institute for Research on Exoplanets.
The white dwarf star WD1145+017 caught the researchers' eye because it was being dimmed a whopping 40 per cent each time something passed in front of it – something that happened every 4.5 hours.
