It’s reasonable to expect that the vast majority of stars out there in the Solar System have at least one planet revolving around them, even though astronomers are certain about the existence of only around 5,000 exoplanets. Who knows what they could find if they look deeper into the unknown?
New research published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society reveals the unusual existence of a white dwarf star called WDJ2147-4035 that has planetesimals revolving around it, meaning chunks of planets. To make things even weirder, the torn-apart solar system is about 10 billion years old. That makes it almost as old as the Universe itself!
90 light-years away from Earth
The peculiar solar system in question is located about 90 light-years away from Earth. While this is a distance that humans would never be able to travel using the current technology, it’s practically nothing for the grandness of the Universe. It practically means a few solar systems away.
The WDJ2147-4035 white dwarf from the center of the system in question is likely responsible for tearing apart the planets that were once surrounding it, resulting in only the planetesimals that astronomers have discovered.
The newfound solar system might even represent the oldest one that has a white dwarf at the center, and that’s located in our Milky Way galaxy.
Abbigail Elms, the lead author of the new study and also a Ph.D. student in the University of Warwick Department of Physics, stated as SciTechNews quotes:
These metal-polluted stars show that Earth isn’t unique, there are other planetary systems out there with planetary bodies similar to the Earth. 97% of all stars will become a white dwarf and they’re so ubiquitous around the universe that they are very important to understand, especially these extremely cool ones. Formed from the oldest stars in our galaxy, cool white dwarfs provide information on the formation and evolution of planetary systems around the oldest stars in the Milky Way.
White dwarf stars are born when low-mass stars consume all of their fuel.