Metal scar found on cannibal star | ESOcast Light

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have found a metal ‘scar’ imprinted on the surface of a dead star. This video summarises the discovery.

When a star like our Sun reaches the end of its life, it can ingest the surrounding planets and asteroids that were born with it. That seems to be the case of the white dwarf WD 0816-310, the Earth-sized remnant of a star similar to, but somewhat larger than, our Sun.

The scar the team observed is a concentration of metals imprinted on its surface. These metals seem to originate from a planetary fragment as large as or possibly larger than Vesta, which is about 500 kilometres across and the second-largest asteroid in the Solar System.

This video summarises the discovery. For more details, check: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2403/.

Credit:

ESO

Directed by: Angelos Tsaousis and Martin Wallner.
Editing: Angelos Tsaousis.
Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida.
Written by: Pamela Freeman, Davor Curic, and Elena Reiriz Martínez.
Music: Stellardrone — Ultra Deep Field.
Footage and photos: ESO / Luis Calçada, Angelos Tsaousis, C. Malin (christophmalin.com), Daniele Gasparri (www.astroatacama.com), Mark Garlick (www.markgarlick.com) & University of Warwick, Mahdi Zamani (https://mahdizamani.com/), Digitized Sky Survey 2/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)
Scientific consultant: Paola Amico, Mariya Lyubenova.