Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 2 hrs ago
Double debris disk around dead star may hint at solar system's future
Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile found two debris rings around the dead star J1328-1450.
The star is a white dwarf, the dense core left after a star uses up its fuel and sheds its outer layers.
The rings are separated by a clear gap, a structure not seen in previously found disks around white dwarfs.
Researchers think two planetary bodies may have survived the star's transformation and shaped the rings, with the outer body possibly as large as Pluto or Earth's moon.
They have not seen the bodies themselves, and the debris could instead have come from one planet.
The find offers a rare glimpse of how planetary systems can change when their star dies, a process that may also affect our solar system billions of years from now.
Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope have found a double debris disk around the dead star J1328-1450.
A clear gap separates the disk’s two rings, a structure not previously seen around a white dwarf.
Researchers think two planetary bodies that partly survived the star’s transformation may have shaped the rings.
One surviving body could be as large as Pluto or Earth’s moon, but the bodies have not been directly observed.
The system may offer a glimpse of what could happen to the solar system when the sun becomes a white dwarf.
- Who
- Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory and their collaborators.
- What
- They found a debris disk divided into two rings around the white dwarf J1328-1450.
- When
- The study was published on October 26, 2026; the European Southern Observatory announced the finding on October 27, 2026.
- Where
- The star was studied using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.
- Why
- The system may show what happens to planetary systems after their star dies, including a possible future for the solar system.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The sun is expected to near the end of its life as it uses up its hydrogen fuel.
The sun is expected to expand into a red giant for about 1 billion years before blowing off its outer layers and leaving a white dwarf.
Researchers published their peer-reviewed study in Nature Astronomy.
The European Southern Observatory announced that researchers had spotted the double debris disk.
- Star
- J1328-1450
- Observatory
- European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope
- Observation location
- Chile
- Disk structure
- Two rings separated by a clear gap
- Possible outer remnant size
- As large as Pluto or Earth’s moon
- Study journal
- Nature Astronomy
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What people are saying
We have known for some time that planets may survive beyond the transformation of their central star, but this is the first example of a complex system with a double debris disk and potentially two surviving planetesimals.
The system is a rare glimpse of the violent, chaotic process by which a planetary system meets its end, and it hints that dead stars can have disk structures far more complex than previously realized.
The structure we see in this system is particularly intriguing because the two gaseous rings are remarkably stable and remain separated by a gap.