Dead Star Caught Ripping Up Planetary System

A star’s death throes have so violently disrupted its planetary system that the dead star left behind, called a white dwarf, is siphoning off debris from both the system’s inner and outer reaches. This is the first time astronomers have observed a white dwarf star that is consuming both rocky-metallic and icy material, the ingredients of planets. Archival data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and other NASA observatories were essential in diagnosing this case of cosmic cannibalism. The findings help describe the violent nature of evolved planetary systems and can tell astronomers about the makeup of newly forming systems. For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Paul Morris: Lead Producer Music & Sound “Through a Computer Screen” by Raphael Olivier [SACEM] via KTSA Publishing [SACEM] and Universal Production Music ESA Credit: Ring of rocky debris around a white dwarf star (artist’s impression) Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, and G. Bacon (STScI) Evaporating extrasolar planet, from Video (artist's impression) Credit: ESA, Alfred Vidal-Madjar (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, France) and NASA. Red Giant Sun Credit: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen) Flight through our Solar System Credit: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen) ESO Credit: Comets in Solar System Credit on screen with : ESO/L. Calçada/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org) This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14169. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14169. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html. See more Hubble videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiuUQ9asub3Ta8mqP5LNiOhOygRzue8kN Follow NASA's Hubble Space Telescope: · Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NASAHubble · Twitter: https://twitter.com/NASAHubble · Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/NASAHubble · Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahubble --- If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/NASAGoddard Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center · Instagram http://www.instagram.com/nasagoddard · Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard · Twitter http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix · Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASAGoddard · Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc