Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
Scientists may have found a new planet. It is very strange. It is near a dead star.
The star is called a white dwarf. It is about 270 light years from Earth. A light year is a very long distance.
The scientists found a metal called niobium around the star. There is a lot of it. They found none around 33 other stars.
They think a planet may have made itself from old star material. The planet is big like Jupiter. It is not confirmed yet.
- planet
- A big round object that moves around a star.
- dead star
- A star that no longer burns like before.
- white dwarf
- A small, hot star at the end of its life.
- light year
- The distance light travels in one year.
- metal
- A hard shiny material such as iron.
- niobium
- A rare metal.
- confirmed
- Proven to be true.
- scientist
- A person who studies nature.
Level 2 - Elementary
Astronomers have reported strong signs of a possible new planet around a white dwarf called HS 0209+0832. The star is about 270 light years from Earth in the constellation Cetus.
Old Hubble Space Telescope data showed very little silicon or iron in the star's atmosphere, but a lot of niobium. The amount of niobium was more than a thousand times higher than in the Sun. The team found none in 33 other white dwarfs they checked.
Niobium is made in dying stars. So the team thinks the material came from the star's own last outbursts. That material may have formed a disk, and a new planet may have grown from it.
Data from NASA's TESS telescope show small, regular dips in light. They point to a gas giant about the size of Jupiter, circling about 6 million kilometers from the star. It is a candidate, not a confirmed planet.
- astronomer
- A scientist who studies space.
- atmosphere
- The layer of gas around a star or planet.
- constellation
- A group of stars with a name.
- disk
- A flat, round cloud of gas and dust.
- candidate
- Something that might be true but is not proven.
- gas giant
- A huge planet made mostly of gas.
- dip
- A small drop.
- orbit
- To travel around something in space.
Level 3 - Intermediate
A study reported on October 9 suggests that a planet may have formed from the ashes of a dead star. The object of interest is HS 0209+0832, a young, hot white dwarf about 270 light years away in the constellation Cetus.
Researchers reanalyzing old Hubble data noticed that the star's atmosphere contains almost no silicon or iron, the usual signs of shredded rocky bodies, yet it is rich in niobium, more than a thousand times more abundant than in the Sun. None of 33 other polluted white dwarfs showed niobium.
The pattern points to material shed by the star itself late in its giant phase, which then settled into a disk. Data from NASA's TESS satellite show periodic dips in brightness consistent with a Jupiter-sized gas giant orbiting at roughly 6 million kilometers.
The work, published in Nature Astronomy and led by Jamie Williams of the University of Warwick, describes a candidate for a second-generation planet. The authors stress that it is unconfirmed and that its composition does not match known rocky debris around white dwarfs.
- reanalyze
- To study data again.
- polluted
- Here, contaminated with other elements.
- abundant
- Existing in large amounts.
- shed
- To lose or cast off.
- periodic
- Happening at regular intervals.
- brightness
- How much light an object gives off.
- second-generation
- Formed after the first generation of objects.
- composition
- What something is made of.
Level 4 - Advanced
A study reported on October 9 raises the tantalizing possibility that a planet has risen, phoenix-like, from the debris of a dead star. The suspect is HS 0209+0832, a young, searingly hot white dwarf about 270 light years away in Cetus.
Astronomers revisiting archival Hubble spectra found the star's atmosphere almost devoid of silicon and iron, the usual fingerprints of pulverized rocky bodies, but anomalously rich in niobium, more than three orders of magnitude above solar levels. A survey of 33 comparable white dwarfs turned up none.
Because niobium is forged in the late stages of stellar evolution, the authors infer that the material was expelled by the star itself as it shed its outer layers, and later condensed into a disk. Photometry from NASA's TESS satellite reveals periodic dimming consistent with a Jupiter-sized gas giant circling at about 6 million kilometers, far closer than Mercury is to the Sun.
The paper, in Nature Astronomy and led by Jamie Williams of the University of Warwick, treats the planet as a candidate and concedes that its chemistry matches neither known rocky debris around white dwarfs nor meteorites in the solar system. If confirmed, it would be among the first second-generation planets, challenging assumptions about how worlds can form.
- tantalizing
- Exciting because it is tempting but out of reach.
- archival
- Stored from past records.
- devoid
- Completely lacking.
- anomalously
- In an unusual way that breaks the pattern.
- order of magnitude
- A factor of ten.
- expelled
- Driven out forcefully.
- photometry
- Measurement of light intensity.
- concede
- To admit something is true.
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