{"id":778445,"date":"2024-03-06T21:07:54","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T02:07:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=778445"},"modified":"2024-03-06T21:07:54","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T02:07:54","slug":"1st-ever-metal-scar-on-a-cannibal-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=778445","title":{"rendered":"1st-ever metal scar on a cannibal star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Metal scar found on cannibal star | ESOcast Light\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v8z9jxZR0xs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/><em>Astronomers using the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have found a metal \u201cscar\u201d on the surface of a white dwarf star. This video \u2013 by ESO \u2013 summarizes the discovery.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>When sunlike stars die,<\/strong> they swell into huge red giant stars. Later, they collapse to become small, dense white dwarf stars. In this process of swelling then collapsing, they can consume or \u201ccannibalize\u201d their planets. Astronomers have seen metals scattered on white dwarf surfaces, presumably from long-gone planets.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Now, for the first time, astronomers have identified a concentrated patch or scar on a white dwarf<\/strong> called WD 0816-310.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The scar on WD 0816-310 is located on one of its magnetic poles<\/strong>, suggesting that its magnetic field played a crucial role in the process during which the white dwarf \u201cate\u201d its planet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Metal scar on a cannibal star<\/h3>\n<p>Astronomers said on February 26, 2024, that they\u2019ve found a \u201cmetal\u201d scar on a cannibal  white dwarf star for the first time. <\/p>\n<p>Prior to this discovery, they had found \u201cmetals\u201d on white dwarf surfaces. Metals, in astronomy, means all the elements of the periodic table other than hydrogen and helium. But this is the first time they\u2019ve found a literal scar on a star left by the cannibalization process.<\/p>\n<p>The scarred white dwarf\u2019s designation is WD 0816-310. It\u2019s located 63 light-years from Earth. When it was younger, it was likely a star much like our sun (although perhaps more massive). But when it began to age, the star swelled up into a red giant star, just as our sun will do. Its outer layers must have engulfed any close-orbiting planets. When our sun becomes a red giant, its outer layers will engulf Earth and possibly Mars. Later, WD 0816-310 shrank down into a tiny burned-out corpse of its former self, called a white dwarf. Like most other known white dwarfs, WD 0816-310 is more massive than our sun, but only about the size of Earth. <\/p>\n<p>And now we see that this white dwarf star has a metal scar (or \u201cpatch\u201d as the scientific paper calls it).<\/p>\n<p>These astronomers made their discovery using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, which is operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).<\/p>\n<p>The research team published their peer-reviewed results in <em>The Astrophysical Journal Letters<\/em> on February 26.<\/p>\n<p>EarthSky lunar calendars are back in stock! And we\u2019re guaranteed to sell out, so get one while you can. Your support means the world to us and allows us to keep going. Purchase here.<\/p>\n<h3>Metal scar on white dwarf star<\/h3>\n<p>So astronomers had detected traces of metals on white dwarfs before, even from what they\u2019ve believed were former Earth-sized planets. But this is the first actual scar they\u2019ve found. <\/p>\n<p>Additionally, they say that the white dwarf\u2019s magnetic field must have been involved in creating the scar. They believe this to be the case because the scar is located at one of the white dwarf\u2019s magnetic poles. Stefano Bagnulo, lead author and astronomer at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium in Northern Ireland, U.K., said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It is well known that some white dwarfs \u2013 slowly cooling embers of stars like our sun \u2013 are cannibalizing pieces of their planetary systems. Now we have discovered that the star\u2019s magnetic field plays a key role in this process, resulting in a scar on the white dwarf\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Co-author Jay Farihi at University College London, U.K., explained:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We have demonstrated that these metals originate from a planetary fragment as large as or possibly larger than Vesta, which is about 300 miles (500 km) across and the second-largest asteroid in the solar system.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_467150\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-467150\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-467150\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View larger. | This artist\u2019s illustration shows the white dwarf star WD 0816-310, where astronomers have found a scar imprinted on its surface, the result of its having ingested planetary debris. Image via ESO\/ L. Cal\u00e7ada.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>How did the scar form?<\/h3>\n<p>Bagnulo and his colleagues used the FORS 2 instrument on the Very Large Telescope to find the scar. The astronomers refer to it as a \u201cSwiss Army knife,\u201d capable of various kinds of observations. Bagnulo said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>ESO has the unique combination of capabilities needed to observe faint objects such as white dwarfs, and sensitively measure stellar magnetic fields.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The researchers found the scar by first noticing that the amount of metal detected varied as the white dwarf rotated. The metals were concentrated in one region instead of being spread out. Another clue came from how the concentration of metals was synchronized with the white dwarf\u2019s magnetic field. The scar is on one of the white dwarf\u2019s magnetic poles. The researchers said this means that the magnetic field ionized and \u201cfunneled\u201d the metals from the former planet onto the magnetic poles of the white dwarf. Thus, the formation of the scar. The process is also similar to how auroras form on Earth and on Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Artist\u2019s animation of the white dwarf WD 0816-310 ingesting planetary fragments\" width=\"1110\" height=\"624\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uQm-Q2FwQtw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>This is an artist\u2019s animation of the white dwarf WD 0816-310 ingesting planetary fragments. Video via ESO\/ YouTube.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Funneled instead of dispersed<\/h3>\n<p>Previous theories stated that such metals should be evenly distributed on the surface of a white dwarf. In fact, when astronomers have found metals on other white dwarfs, those metals have been scattered over the surface. But in the case of WD 0816-310, the magnetic field ionized the metals and guided them onto the magnetic poles. Co-author John Landstreet at Western University, Canada, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Surprisingly, the material was not evenly mixed over the surface of the star, as predicted by theory. Instead, this scar is a concentrated patch of planetary material, held in place by the same magnetic field that has guided the infalling fragments. Nothing like this has been seen before.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Bottom line: Astronomers have discovered a unique metal scar on a cannibal star, a white dwarf or \u201cdead\u201d star. They believe it formed when the star consumed one of its planets<\/p>\n<p>Source: Discovery of Magnetically Guided Metal Accretion onto a Polluted White Dwarf<\/p>\n<p>Via ESO<\/p>\n<p>Read more: Evidence for white dwarfs consuming Earth-like worlds<\/p>\n<p>Read more: This white dwarf star has a giant, evaporating planet<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"cp-load-after-post\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post-author\">\n<h4>Paul Scott Anderson<\/h4>\n<p>                    View Articles\n                  <\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"post-tags\">\n<h6 data-udy-fe=\"text_7c58270d\">About the Author:<\/h6>\n<p>Paul Scott Anderson has had a passion for space exploration that began when he was a child when he watched Carl Sagan\u2019s Cosmos. While in school he was known for his passion for space exploration and astronomy. He started his blog The Meridiani Journal in 2005, which was a chronicle of planetary exploration. In 2015, the blog was renamed as Planetaria. While interested in all aspects of space exploration, his primary passion is planetary science. In 2011, he started writing about space on a freelance basis, and now currently writes for AmericaSpace and Futurism (part of Vocal). He has also written for Universe Today and SpaceFlight Insider, and has also been published in The Mars Quarterly and has done supplementary writing for the well-known iOS app Exoplanet for iPhone and iPad.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/space\/metal-scar-on-a-cannibal-star-wd-0816-310-vlt\/?rand=772280\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Astronomers using the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have found a metal \u201cscar\u201d on the surface of a white dwarf star. This video \u2013 by ESO&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":778446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-778445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-sky"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=778445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/778446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=778445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=778445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=778445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}