Astronomers have observed a brand-new planet that appears to have formed from the leftover debris of a dying star.
Dubbed a “phoenix planet,” this newly spotted world offers scientists a fresh look at how planetary systems rebuild themselves after destruction.
But it confirmed the presence of a close-orbiting planet made from the star’s original outer layers. The observations were made by a team of astronomers led by the University of Warwick and funded by the European Research Council (ERC). Published in Nature Astronomy , the findings show that even the violent death of a star doesn’t always mean that it is the end. “Second-generation planets are worlds that form out of the material a star casts off as it dies. “It’s a bit like finding a planet that has risen from the ashes of the very star it once orbited.
Because those heavy elements shouldn’t normally linger near the surface of a white dwarf, scientists realised the star was actively pulling in material from a nearby body.
They’re incredibly rare, and finding one around a white dwarf was completely unexpected,” first author Jamie Williams, a PhD student in the Department of Physics, University of Warwick, said in the press release .
