Astronomers Find A Potential ‘Major Planet’ Orbiting A Dead Star That Can Support Life For At Least 1 Billion Years Into The Future

Scientists have made an interesting discovery. They found out that planets can have life even if they orbit stars that are not very bright and strong. They have found a potential "major planet" that goes around a dying sun, and there is a possibility that it could support life in the future.

Scientists from University College London made a surprising discovery while observing a white dwarf, which is the remains of a star that ran out of hydrogen fuel. This particular white dwarf, called WD1054-226, is located about 117 light-years away from us. The researchers found a ring of planetary debris around the white dwarf in a region known as the habitable zone, where temperatures could support liquid water on a planet's surface.

If this planet is confirmed to be able to sustain life, it would be the first time a life-sustaining planet has been found around a dying sun.

The scientists detected dips in the light emitted by the white dwarf, which indicated the presence of 65 evenly spaced clouds of debris orbiting around it every 25 hours. The lead author of the study, Jay Farihi, described these structures as irregular and dusty, resembling comets rather than solid spherical objects. He suggested that the gravitational influence of a nearby planet could be responsible for maintaining the precise arrangement of these debris clouds. Farihi mentioned the gravitational pull of moons around Neptune and Saturn as a similar example.

While the idea of a potentially habitable planet in the star's habitable zone is exciting, Farihi emphasized that further evidence is needed to confirm its existence. The challenge lies in the inability to directly observe the planet. The researchers may rely on computer models and additional observations of the star and its surrounding debris to gain a clearer understanding.

If such a planet does exist, the team speculates that it was formed relatively recently and could be habitable for at least 2 billion years, including at least 1 billion years in the future.

This discovery could also contribute to a better understanding of our own solar system, as more than 95% of all stars, including our sun, will eventually become white dwarfs.

Updated version of the previous article.

Reference(): Royal Astronomical Society’s Monthly Notices