{"id":44467,"date":"2023-05-02T07:34:48","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T07:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=118346"},"modified":"2023-05-02T07:32:30","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T07:32:30","slug":"could-a-planet-orbit-a-dead-star","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/could-a-planet-orbit-a-dead-star\/","title":{"rendered":"Could a planet orbit a dead star?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it possible for a planet to orbit a dead star, and what would that mean for the chances of life? <\/p>

By Garry Hunt\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 02 May 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

In 1992, three Earth-sized planets were observed circling a pulsar<\/a>, which is a type of stellar remnant, and in April 2006, a team of astronomers at MIT announced they had found a dusty disc of material in orbit around a dead star.<\/p>\n

Deepto Chakrabarty and his team made the discovery using the NASA Infrared Spitzer Space Telescope.<\/p>\n

The disc was found around the heavy dead core of a star located 13,000 lightyears from Earth, in the constellation of Cassiopeia<\/a>, which was once 10 to 20 times bigger than the Sun.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
The distinctive \u2018W\u2019 shape of Cassiopeia. Credit: Michael Breite\/Stefan Heutz\/Wolfgang Ries\/ccdguide.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The star ran out of material to fuel its nuclear reactions around 100,000 years ago and collapsed under its own weight in a supernova<\/a> explosion.<\/p>\n

The find adds weight to the theory that the planets observed in 1992 were formed out of a disc of debris surrounding a pulsar.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s unlikely to be any form of life on a planet orbiting a dead star \u2013\u00a0 <\/span>the chemical ingredients needed would have been destroyed in the final stages of the star\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

But discoveries like these do broaden the search area for planet-hunters.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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