Researchers propose that powerful X-ray emissions from the Helix Nebula indicate the remnants of a planet being consumed by a white dwarf. This conclusion follows decades of mystery about the source of these emissions. The study suggests that remnants of a Neptune-sized planet and an earlier Jupiter-sized planet were obliterated by a dying star, providing an answer to a long-standing astronomical puzzle. White dwarfs emit X-rays as they ionize gases in the planetary nebula, forming glow around them, yet remain difficult to observe directly.
We think this X-ray signal could be from planetary debris pulled onto the white dwarf, as the death knell from a planet that was destroyed by the white dwarf in the Helix Nebula.
White dwarfs like this one, WD 2226-210, form after a star similar in mass to our Sun exhausts all its fuel.
This X-ray emission from the Helix Nebula could finally explain a mystery that has puzzled astronomers for over 40 years.
The energy radiated by the core ionizes the lingering gases expelled by the star, forming a vast glowing cloud known as a planetary nebula.
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