Rocky Alien Planet Leftovers ‘Polluted’ White Dwarf Stars With Metal

(Before It's News)

Artist’s impression of a massive asteroid belt in orbit around a star. Credit: NASA-JPL / Caltech / T. Pyle (SSC)

What’s with all the metals in the atmosphere of white dwarfs, those things that are corpses of stars like our own Sun? While before scientists had theories about levitating star layers that “polluted” the white dwarfs, new research shows it’s more likely due to rocky material. More specifically, material left over from planet formation.

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© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2014. |
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Post tags: far ultraviolet spectroscopic explorer, fuse, white dwarf

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