White Dwarf SDSS1228+1040 has a Ring of Smashed ExoPlanets

The sight of an asteroid being ripped apart by a dead star and forming a glowing debris ring has been captured in an image for the first time.

Comprised of dust particles and debris, the rings are formed by the star's gravity tearing apart asteroids that came too close.

Gas produced by collisions among the debris within the ring is illuminated by ultraviolet rays from the star, causing it to emit a dark red glow which the researchers observed and turned into the image of the ring.

Led by Christopher Manser of the University of Warwick's Astrophysics Group, the researchers investigated the remnants of planetary systems around white dwarf stars; in this instance, SDSS1228+1040.

Whilst similar to the formation of Saturn's rings, the scale of the white dwarf and its debris is many times greater in size. Christopher Manser explains:

"The diameter of the gap inside of the debris ring is 700,000 kilometres, approximately half the size of the Sun and the same space could fit both Saturn and its rings, which are only around 270,000 km across. At the same time, the white dwarf is seven times smaller than Saturn but weighs 2500 times more".

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