Astronomers may have ultimately solved the problem of what is causing the highly energy x-rays of WD 2226-210, a white dwarf star located in the heart of the Helix Nebula.
The impression of this artist shows an ex faction (left) that has come too close to the white dwarf (right) and torn apart by the power of the tide from the stars. Image credits: NASA/CXC/SAO/M. Weiss.
Helix Nebula It is a so-called planetary nebulae, a late stage of the star that discharges the outer layer of gas and leaves behind what is known as the white dwarf.
In the past decades, the Einstein X-ray Observatory and the Rosatt Telescope have detected highly energy x-rays from the white d star of the Helix Nebula, WD 2226-210.
White dwarfs like the WD 2226-210, just 650 light years away, usually do not emit powerful X-rays.
“They're the best,” said Dr. Sandino Estrada Dorado, an astronomer at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
“We may finally have found the cause of a mystery that lasted over 40 years.”
Previously, astronomers determined that Neptune-sized planets were in very close orbits around WD 2226-210.
Dr. Estrada Dorado and colleagues conclude that there may have been a planet like Jupiter, even closer to the star.
The besieged planet may have initially managed to hold a considerable distance from the white dwarf, but moved inwards by interacting with the gravity of other planets in the system.
Once it got close enough to the white dwarf, the gravity of the star would have partially or completely tore the planet.
“The mystical signals we've seen can be caused by fragments from the crushed planet falling onto the surface of a white dwarf and being heated to shine with x-rays,” said Dr. Martin Guerrero, an astronomer at the Andalusian Institute of Astronomy.
“If confirmed, this will be the first case of a planet that is considered to be destroyed by the central star of the planet.”
WD 2226-210 is located at the heart of the Helix Nebula. Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/UNIV MEXICO/ESTRADA-DORADO et al. /JPL/ESA/STSCI/M. MEIXNER/NRAO/TA RECTOR/ESO/Vista/J. Emerson/K. Arcand.
This study shows that X-ray signals from the white d star remained roughly constant in brightness between 1992, 1999 and 2002.
However, this data suggests that there are subtle and regular changes in the x-ray signal every 2.9 hours, which may provide evidence of planetary ruins very close to the white d star.
The author also considered whether a low-mass star could have been destroyed rather than a planet.
Such stars are roughly the same size as planets like Jupiter, but are much less likely to have been torn apart by larger, white dwarfs.
WD 2226-210 has some similarities between the two other white d stars that are not within the planet's nebula and the X-ray behavior.
It may separate the material from the planet's ally, but it will separate the material in a more sedative way without the planet being destroyed immediately.
Other white dwarfs may have dragged material onto their surfaces from traces of the planet.
These three white d stars can form variables or objects of change in the new class.
“They're the best,” said Dr. Jess Tora, an astronomer at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Team's paper It will be published in Monthly Notices from the Royal Astronomical Society.
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S. Estrada-Dorado et al. 2025. Added to WD 2226-210, the central star of the Helix Nebula. mnrasin press; Arxiv: 2412.07863
This article is a version of a press release provided by NASA.
Source: www.sci.news
