A star in the constellation Bootes “ate” a huge comet

Hubble recorded the process of absorption of the white dwarf a huge comet.

For the first time, scientists have witnessed that moment when a white dwarf – the remnant of a star that shed its outer layers, ripped the comet in the vicinity of the space.

Data released by the Hubble telescope, and the results were published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The discovery was made using the Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the Hubble space telescope from NASA. Watching the distant white dwarf located at a distance of 170 light-years from Earth, which is called WD 1425 + 540, they saw evidence that a massive comet fell on the star, and was “killed by the tide” – or broken.

Found in the constellation of Bootes, this white dwarf was first seen in 1974. It is part of a binary system with another star, which spins at about 2,000 astronomical units (AU, 1 AU distance from the earth to the Sun) from him.

As for the comet, well, it was pretty huge, about 100,000 times more massive than the famous Halley’s comet in our own Solar system and with a much higher amount of water. It is also believed that she was rich in the elements necessary for life such as nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, and sulfur.

“Nitrogen is a very important element for life as we know it. This particular object is quite rich in nitrogen, more than any observable object in our Solar system,” said one of the researchers. The discovery is important because it provides evidence that other planetary systems have some ice materials, such as our own, which may have been transported by comets in different worlds.

The discovery shows that the ice material can survive the entire evolution of the star. This white dwarf was once a red giant, before he discarded his outer layers, leaving only the dense core of an old star.

paradox