Visit my website at [ Ссылка ] - scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence that Earth-like planets may exist around a pair of nearby white dwarf stars, located in the Hyades star cluster. The white dwarf stars have atmospheres that are being "polluted" by debris from asteroids falling into them. This suggests that rocky planet formation is common in star clusters, according to researchers.
The above video animation shows small asteroids being pulled into a dust disk around a white dwarf, becoming part of the whirling debris field that is gradually being pulled down onto the white dwarf itself. When the asteroids fall onto the white dwarf they contaminate the star's atmosphere with silicon and carbon, both of which have been detected as pollutants in the recent study.
Evidence for the existence of asteroids points to the possibility of Earth-sized planets in that same system, since asteroids are the building blocks of major planets. The planet-forming process is inefficient, and will create many times more small bodies than large bodies - but once rocky embryos the size of asteroids are built, planets will follow.
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Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, and G. Bacon
