The dust from Earth-like dead planets has been observed in the atmosphere of four nearby white dwarfs, the core of a dead star that is comparable to that of our sun.
A team at the University of Warwick found outer layers containing up to 300,000 gigatons of rock debris, which included up to 60 gigatons of lithium and 3,000 gigatons of potassium.
Researchers also found traces of sodium and calcium, suggesting that the remains came from dead planets that had crusts similar to those found on Earth and Mars.
The discovery is not only the first time astronomers have witnessed planetary crusts in the atmosphere of white dwarfs, but also reveals that solar systems like ours have existed for billions of years.
Scroll down to see the video
Astronomers found outer layers containing up to 300,000 gigatons of rock debris, which includes up to 60 gigatons of lithium and 3,000 gigatons of potassium. Researchers also found traces of sodium and calcium
White dwarfs form after stars, like our sun, have depleted their nuclear fuel.
Towards the end of its nuclear burning, the star ejects most of its outer material, creating a planetary nebula, which is a shell of gas and dust.
Here the star becomes a red giant and eventually a white dwarf.
However, during the process, the star can remove everything and everything around it.
The discovery is not only the first time astronomers have witnessed planetary crusts in the atmosphere of white dwarfs (stock), but also reveals that solar systems like ours have existed for billions of years.
The team led by the University of Warwick was analyzing data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia telescope of more than 1,000 nearby white dwarf stars when they encountered an unusual signal from a particular white dwarf.
Using spectroscopy, the team analyzed the light from each star at different wavelengths.
This allowed the detection of elements that may be lurking in the star’s atmosphere.
Scientists also inspected the 30,000 white dwarf spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey published over the past 20 years.
The signal coincided with the wavelength of lithium and astronomers soon discovered three more white dwarfs with the same signal, one of which was also observed with potassium in their atmosphere.
When comparing the amount of lithium and potassium with the other elements they detected – sodium and calcium – they found that the proportion of elements coincided with the chemical composition of the crust of rocky planets such as Earth and Mars (pictured )
The four white dwarfs are believed to have burned their fuel until 10 billion years ago and could be among the oldest white dwarfs formed in our galaxy.
When comparing the amount of lithium and potassium with the other elements they detected – sodium and calcium – they found that the proportion of elements matched the chemical composition of the crust of rocky planets such as Earth and Mars, if these crusts they have vaporized and mixed within the outer gaseous layers of the star for 2 million years.
The lead author, Dr Mark Hollands, of the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick, said: “In the past, we’ve seen all sorts of things like mantle and core material, but we haven’t had a definitive detection of the planetary crust “.
“Lithium and potassium are good indicators of crust material, they are not present in high concentrations in the mantle or core.”
“Now we know what chemical signature we need to look for to detect these elements, we have the opportunity to look at a large number of white dwarfs and find more. Then we can see the distribution of this signature and see how often we detect these planetary crusts. and how it compares to our predictions.
The amount of crustal material discovered around the four stars is about the same mass as the asteroids that have been observed in our own solar system.
This information led astronomers to suggest that the vaporized crusts broke from one planet and are not the remains of an entire planet.
“As we understand it, the formation of rocky planets occurs similarly in different planetary systems,” Dr. Holland.
Initially, they were formed from a star-like material composition, but over time these materials separate and end up having different chemical compositions on different parts of the planets.
“We can see that at some point these objects have undergone a differentiation, in which the composition is different from the initial composition of the star.”
“It is now understood that most normal stars like the Sun are home to planets, but now there is an opportunity to look at the frequency of different types of material as well.”
WHAT WILL HAPPEN ON EARTH WHEN THE SUN DIES?
Five billion years from now it is said that the sun will have become a red giant star, more than a hundred times larger than its current size.
Eventually, it will expel gas and dust to create a “wrapper” that reaches half its mass.
The nucleus will become a small white dwarf star. This will shine for thousands of years, illuminating the envelope to create a ring-shaped planetary nebula.
Five billion years from now, the sun is said to have become a red giant star, more than a hundred times larger than its current size (photo file)
Although this metamorphosis will change the solar system, scientists do not know what will happen to the third rock in the sun.
We already know that our sun will be bigger and brighter, so it will probably destroy any life form on our planet.
But whether the rocky core of the Earth will survive is uncertain.