NASA's Kepler K2 Mission Spots Planet Being Destroyed By A Star; Planetary Destruction Real!
A small planet in another solar sytem is literally being 'cannibalized' by a white dwarf star. The constellation Virgo, 570 light years away has been under observation.
There is "strong evidence" that a rocky object is being ripped apart as it spirals around a distant white dwarf star, according to a statement from NASA, cited by USAToday. "Planetary destruction is real" added CFA.
"This is something no human has seen before," said lead author Andrew Vanderburg of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in a statement. "We're watching a solar system get destroyed." according to the Guardian.
According to NASA, this discovery could confirm the theory that a white dwarf star may be capable of destroying planets that are within its solar system.
A white dwarf star is created when a "sun-like star reaches the end of its life, and swells into a red giant and sloughs off its outer layers.
The hot, Earth-sized core that remains is a white dwarf star," according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Putting these observations together, Vanderburg, a graduate student from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said he had his eureka moment.
"The eureka moment of discovery came on the last night of observation with a sudden realization of what was going around the white dwarf. The shape and changing depth of the transit were undeniable signatures," he said in a statement.
"We are for the first time witnessing a miniature 'planet' ripped apart by intense gravity, being vaporized by starlight and raining rocky material onto its star." said IGN.
The small planet is in orbit about 520,000 miles from the "death star," or twice the distance from the Earth to the Moon, according to Andrew.
While the action is takes place 570 light-years from Earth, the demise of the rocky object could hint at what might happen when the Sun becomes a white dwarf star millions of years from now.
