Observe real-time a white dwarf, a star at end of life, attracting and disintegrate a planet: it is what could make the Harvard-Smithsonian researchers Astrophysics Center at using the Kepler telescope. “This is something that no human has ever seen before. We are witnessing the destruction of a solar system,” explained Andrew Vanderburg, lead author of the study published Wednesday in the British journal Nature. The explosion took place at 570 light years from Earth, in the constellation of Virgo.
At end of life, the star, similar to the Sun , ended up collapsing and is changed into smaller body, called dwarf white. According to researchers, the material of a planet affected by such a star then falls as dust on its surface and dissolves in its depths.
The white dwarfs are called “Death Stars” in reference to Star Wars. In the saga, this is a mobile space station capable of disintegrating a planet with a high-powered laser.
According to scientists, in about five billion years, the Sun will become too white dwarf, and absorb the surrounding planets, including Earth.
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