White Dwarf Destroys Dwarf Planet

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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[00:00:00.00] A montage of colorful photographs taken with space telescopes. 

 

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[00:00:04.83] Text: News from the Universe. 

 

[00:00:11.87] November 21, 2025. White Dwarf Destroys Dwarf Planet. 

 

[00:00:19.96] In another star system 260 light-years away, astronomers have seen what the future of our own solar system could look like. 

 

[00:00:32.48] The white dwarf 1647+375 is the remaining core of a star that was once similar to the Sun. 

 

[00:00:45.90] Using the ultraviolet capabilities of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, scientists see evidence that the white dwarf has destroyed an object like our solar system's dwarf planet Pluto. 

 

[00:00:57.00] An artist's conceptual drawing shows a stream of rocky material flowing into a white dwarf star. 

 

[00:01:05.39] Text: Hubble revealed that the fragments include a large amount of nitrogen and a high oxygen content that suggest the strong presence of water, which was a surprise. 

 

[00:01:21.54] In our solar system, Pluto is rich in water ice with a layer of frozen nitrogen on its surface. A photograph from the New Horizons probe shows Pluto. 

 

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[00:01:34.11] Text: Hubble's findings indicate that the fragments falling into the star may have been part of a Pluto-like body that formed far from its star, in an icy region like the solar system's Kuiper Belt. An animation shows debris streaming into the white dwarf star as dust trails flow behind the pieces. 

 

[00:01:54.00] Text: This news was brought to you in part by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.