Possible Planet Orbiting a Dead Star
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Text, News From The Universe. September 24, 2020
Possible Planet Orbiting a Dead Star
NASA telescopes have detected a planet that, if confirmed, would be the first found orbiting close to a white dwarf star - which was once thought impossible.
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White dwarfs are what remains after a Sun-like star puffs up into a red giant that sheds its gaseous layers and engulfs close-orbiting planets.
Scientists used NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)and Spitzer Space Telescope to detect and study the object.
It appears to be a planet 14 times the mass of Jupiter. It is larger, but not more massive, than its star.
Spitzer showed that the planet does not emit its own infrared glow, like a ow-mass star or brown dwarf.
The planet likely migrated closer to the star from its original orbit.
Why did the planet move inward, and how did it survive intact?
Scientists will test multiple theories, including gravitational interaction with other large planets or nearby stars.
This news was brought to you in part by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD