Dying Star May Presage Our Solar System's Demise [ metallic debris ring, white dwarf ]

Scientific American ^ | December 21, 2006 | Nikhil Swaminathan

[SunkenCiv]

The star in question is a white dwarf known as SDSS1228+1040. It is located 463 light-years away from Earth and is in the constellation Virgo... Gänsicke points out that there has been much debate within the realm of astrophysics about whether these short stellar life spans provide the "time that is necessary to form planets from the debris of the disk that made the star in the first place." ...The new findings suggest they are. And if these short-lived stars are able to support planetary systems of their own, they can certainly serve as models for what could happen billions of years in the future to our own solar system... When running spectral analyses on the material surrounding the star, the team found the double-peaked emission lines of magnesium, iron and calcium. This allowed them to determine that the circumstellar material was distributed in roughly a half-a-million-mile radius around the star. Gänsicke and his colleagues believe that the debris ring is the remains of a 50-kilometer-wide asteroid, which once orbited the star closely along with other entities. This finding "strongly suggests that there is still a planet orbiting around SDSS1228+1040 today," Gänsicke says. "[Asteroids need] the gravitation of an object much bigger than the asteroids themselves to dislodge one of them from their stable circular orbits." Once dislodged, the asteroid likely moved too close to the gravitational field of the star, where it was broken up in a process called tidal shredding. The pieces then likely evaporated into the disk seen now via radiation from the hot star.

[SunkenCiv]

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METALLIC RING:  An unusual disk of gaseous, metallic debris around a white dwarf star 463 light years away provides a model for what could become of our solar system Researchers using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey--a comprehensive effort to map a quarter of the sky with a dedicated telescope at Apache Point, N.M.--have identified a cooling ember of a star ringed by a rare gaseous, metal-rich disk. This discovery, according to team leader Boris Gänsicke of the University of Warwick in England, suggests that there is a planet orbiting this once massive star. It also may provide, he says, "a glimpse into the future of our solar system," specifically how it may end. [Image: PICTURE BY MARK A. GARLICK]

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[SunkenCiv]

similar story, because the SciAm story will vanish:

Metal Ring Round White Dwarf Solves Missing Planets Puzzle
SpaceRef
Saturday, December 23, 2006

Astrophysicists at the University of Warwick have found an unusual ring of metal-rich gas orbiting very close around a white dwarf star. The presence of the ring helps solve a problem for astronomers who, up till now, have been puzzled by the apparent absence of planets around white dwarf stars... This "metal" disc around SDSS1228+1040 appears to be relatively rare. Before their study, three white dwarfs, out of a study of a few hundred, were suggested to be surrounded by planetary debris material. However, in none of those three cases could a definite proof of an asteroid origin be made due to the lack of information on the geometry and the chemical abundance of the material found in the vicinity of these stars. As part of their study, the Warwick team investigated data for 500 additional white dwarfs without finding conclusive evidence for another system harbouring such a disc.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

Asteroid busted up by a planet, sounds like catastrophism to me. :') Have a very Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and fun and productive 2007!

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[SamAdams76]

This does not bode well for planet Earth. Eventually, be it tomorrow or 12 billion years from now, we are all going to die.

[SunkenCiv]

Great, then my creditors can kiss my butt. :')

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Ha.

I like that feeling.

[SunkenCiv]

I'm going to have it carved on my headstone.

And, best of all, I'm gonna charge it. ;')

[SunkenCiv]

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