Key Takeaways:
- 1. A white dwarf in our stellar neighborhood is consuming fragments of a Pluto-like object, revealing water and volatile-rich material.
- 2. The discovery was made using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which detected water ice and nitrogen in the fragments.
- 3. The findings provide insights into planet formation and how water is delivered to rocky planets.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope identified a white dwarf consuming fragments of a Pluto-like object from its system's Kuiper Belt analog. The fragments contain water ice and volatile substances, challenging previous assumptions about white dwarfs and exoplanets. The discovery sheds light on planet formation and may offer clues on water delivery to rocky planets. The team plans to use the James Webb Space Telescope for further observations.
Insight: Accretion of volatile-rich objects by white dwarfs is difficult to detect in visible light but possible with Hubble's ultraviolet sensitivity. The discovery hints at the future fate of our Sun, which will also become a white dwarf surrounded by remnants similar to the observed system.
This article was curated by memoment.jp from the feed source: NASA Breaking News.
Read the original article here: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-sees-white-dwarf-eating-piece-of-pluto-like-object/
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