Scientists have found in the wreckage of an old solar system the heavy metal remains of a destructive planet

LONDON (Reuters) – British astronomers have discovered that they have discovered in the debris of a solar system the remains of a destructive planet, heavy metals such as iron and nickel.

The remaining rock of the destroyed planet, 600 km long, orbits just 123.4 minutes from its sun, after escaping from being completely burned down and reduced to a dwarf star, the researchers said.

The researchers published the results in the latest issue of Science magazine.

The researchers said what they observed also helped to envision the future of our solar system.

When the stars of our sun are over, they swell a lot and become a gigantic red star, then the cover closes, the rest is transformed into a white dwarf star, a very compressed star with a very high temperature, which becomes white but ceases to produce energy. New and slowly fades over the ages.

Our sun should also turn into a distant future, starting with a red giant devouring the planets Mercury, Venus and Earth, before shrinking in about five billion years into a white dwarf star.

The researchers found in a white dwarf star about 410 billion light years away from a disk of gas and dust that could be the debris of a previous planet. "The star had a mass of suns, but it only has about 70% of our solar mass, under the supervision of Christopher Manser, of the British University of" Warwick, "in a statement released by the University, "It is also very small, because it is almost the size of the Earth, which gives the star a huge intensity like the rest of the white dwarf stars."

During the spectral analysis, the researchers discovered a regular oscillation of a specific calcium line.

In evaluating the data monitored by the researchers, it was found that this oscillation was probably caused by a larger compressed body orbiting the white dwarf in a debris disk, which is therefore more intense than previously expected.

This body digs a tail, resembling a comet.

This body must have an extraordinary density not to be swept away by the massive gravitational force of this burning and compressed star, which is much denser than the density of a comet, and can not exceed 600 km in diameter, say the scientists .

Scientists believe that the giant rock that surrounds it is composed of heavy metals such as iron and nickel, which are probably the nucleus of the planet that has survived the disastrous destruction of its system.

"Our discovery is only the piece of the second planet that has been revealed in a narrow circle around the white dwarf star," Manser said. "We found it by chance because when we observe it from the Earth, it regularly passes in front of its white dwarf star." Slightly as it passed. "

However, this method of proof is valid only if the orbit is a coincidence where it shows what is called the transient, seen from the ground.

"The spectroscopic method we developed during the course of the study makes it possible to detect the remains of planets without necessarily being true," said Manser.

Researchers are now considering examining more white dwarf stars using their method, especially stars known to have rubble discs around them.

The observation of asteroids or remains of planets orbiting falling stars makes it possible to draw conclusions from planets orbiting well beyond white dwarf stars, but can only be demonstrated at the same time. 39, using methods developed so far.