Debris ring and planet around white dwarf, illustration
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RFID:Image ID:T740K9
Image details
Contributor:
Science Photo Library / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
T740K9File size:
100 MB (814.7 KB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
7141 x 4895 px | 60.5 x 41.4 cm | 23.8 x 16.3 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
9 April 2019Photographer:
MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYMore information:
Artist's impression of a disintegrating exoplanet orbiting within a planetary debris disc. This planet was found by a team led by Warwick University and announced in 2019. They were looking at a dusty ring around the central star, a white dwarf, when the latter underwent a supernova explosion. A signal in their data, repeating every two hours, indicates the presence of a moving stream of gas in the ring, orbiting the white dwarf rapidly. The object emitting the gas stream is estimated to be an 800-km-wide asteroid-like body, similar in size to Ceres, but made almost entirely of iron.