Dying Stars May Give Birth to New Planets, Astronomers Say

A recent study shows that even dying stars may give birth to new planets.

Researchers detailed their study, "A population of transition disks around evolved stars: Fingerprints of planets," in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The study lead author is KU Leuven astronomer Jacques Kluska.

Dying Stars May Produce Planets

The second star's gravitational force may drive the expelled material from the dying star to create a new revolving disk, similar to the protoplanetary disk surrounding the star when it is young.

Astronomers had predicted this. What's new is evidence that the disk can produce a second generation of planets. According to the research, recent planets develop around 10% of double stars in this setting.

"In ten percent of the evolved binary stars with discs we studied, we see a large cavity in the disc," said Kluska in a press release. "This is an indication that something is floating around there that has collected all matter in the area of the cavity."

Planets are probably the only object that can form in these disks. Observations of the fading star support the hypothesis that the thing is a planet.

According to Kluska, they found that heavy elements like iron were relatively sparse on the surface of the dying star in evolved binary stars with a wide hole in the disc. The lead author added that this observation leads one to believe that a planet captured dust particles rich in these components.

The data is fascinating, but astronomers aren't sure if these are planets yet. It will be a notable finding if it turns out that the second generation of worlds is emerging in this manner. It suggests that our planetary formation theory, known as the nebular hypothesis, is true but incomplete.

Researchers said the core of a star generally works as a strong nuclear furnace, providing heat and pressure that allow stars to shine and remain stable for lengthy periods.

When the cores of these massive stars run out of fuel, they collapse, sending a shock wave 20 million miles per hour to the surface, creating a blaze one billion times brighter than the sun.

Supernova Explained

Supernovae are exploding spheres of heavy matter that spit nickel, gold, and iron. Thus, learning more about them will help scientists better grasp how the Earth came to be, they added.

Because the Earth's sun is smaller, it will inflate and then lose its outer layers as it reaches the end of its life in around 4 billion years, leaving the remnants to cool over a long time.

If new studies confirm the presence of planets orbiting evolved binary stars, and it turns out that planets originated after one of the stars nearing the end of its life, ideas about planet formation will need to be revised.

Professor Hans Van Winckel, head of the KU Leuven Institute of Astronomy, said per Wion News that the confirmation or denial of this unusual process of planet creation would be an unprecedented challenge for the present ideas.

Scientists have only seen the afterglow of such bursts that light up galaxies until now, and they have no idea which star erupted.

According to this research, protoplanetary disks are suited for researching planet formation scenarios in unprecedented parameter space.

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