And the journal Nature indicates that scientists from the British University of Warwick were able for the first time to monitor and follow the process of the collision of planetary debris with the surface of the white dwarf G29-38.
And she adds, scientists have detected X-rays emitted from the white dwarf G29-38 by the Chandra space observatory. This dwarf star is one of hundreds of white dwarfs close to the solar system, 44 light-years away. Earlier, scientists had detected an increase in infrared emission from the region surrounding the star, which indicates the presence of a brown dwarf or a cloud of dust and rocky debris surrounding the white dwarf G29-38.
Spectroscopic analysis later showed the presence of minerals in the star’s atmosphere, which indicates the accumulation of materials arising from the destruction of a small celestial body, such as an asteroid. X-ray follow-up has shown that the accretion speed of rocky materials that heat up and emit high-energy radiation is regarding 1.5 million kilograms per second.
This is the first direct discovery, indicating that white dwarfs are currently attracting the remains of planets that were destroyed or out of orbit, when the parent stars turn into a red giant and get rid of their outer layers.
