White dwarfs, known as “man-eating stars” by scientists, are not just a concept from a Stephen King novel set in space. They are born through the process of swallowing surrounding planets and asteroids, leaving visible scars.
Researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery in solving the mystery of these cannibal stars by finding traces of metal on the surface of one such white dwarf star for the first time ever.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” said study co-author John Landstreet, a professor at Western University in Canada. These findings are reported in the Astrophysics Journal Letter.
The white dwarf in question, WD 0816-310, is now the size of Earth and is the remnants of a star that was once as large as the Sun.
Using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, researchers detected the concentrated metals on the scar of the cannibal star using the VLT’s FORS2 instrument, often referred to as the “Swiss Army Knife.”
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Experts believe that a planet or asteroid disintegrated as it neared the white dwarf, forming a ring of debris around the dead star. WD 0816-310 then consumed part of this debris ring, leaving behind traces of specific chemicals on its surface, akin to evidence of food theft around a child’s mouth.
Additionally, scientists observed variations in the strength of metal detections on the star as it rotated, resembling changes in the magnetic field.
It was discovered that the magnetic field drew these metallic elements into the man-eating star, concentrating them at its poles and creating a distinctive “scar” in those areas.
These observations provide valuable insights into the composition of exoplanets and shed light on how stars interact with planetary systems even after their “death,” showcasing that WD 0816-310 is not just a “man-eating” star but also a “zombie” star.
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Source: www.sciencefocus.com
