Scientists found evidence that a planet was destroyed by a white dwarf star at the edge of the Milky Way.
A research team used NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and other powerful telescopes to find the white dwarf (a core of a star that has run out of fuel) ripped apart a planet that came too close, Chandra X-ray Observatory reported.
White dwarfs consist of an enormous amount of materials packed within a radius one hundredth that of the original star, causing it to have an extremely strong gravitational pull; for example, the gravity at the surface of a white dwarf is over 10,000 times higher than the Sun's. These properties could explain how such a dramatic even could be possible.
The scientists' observations revealed a new X-ray source near the center of the globular cluster NGC 6388. At first they thought the source of these X-rays was a supermassive black hole, but further analysis led them to the idea that it was actually caused by hot gas swirling towards an intermediate-mass black hole. Even further observations ruled out the possibility of a central black hole as the source. The X-rays became dimmer during the observation period, and models showed this dimming was consistent with a planet's orbit being disturbed by the interference of a white dwarf.
When a planet passes too closely to this type of dying star, it can be torn into pieces by the intense tidal forces. The debris left over from the destruction are then heated and glow as X-rays before falling into the white dwarf. The researchers estimated the doomed planet would have contained about a third of the mass of Earth.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
