Do Dead Stars Help Create New Planets Come?

National Scene Magazine-February '09 Space

Do Dead Stars Help New Planets Come to Life? NASA Scientists Studying Spitzer Space Telescope Findings Seem to Think So.

Written by: Karen Benardello

Dead stars are doing more than just floating around space until they incinerate-they are actually helping new planets evolve, as discovered on January 5 by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists through observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, an infrared space observatory.

With its infrared spectrograph, an instrument that breaks light apart into wavelengths, the Spitzer observed shredded asteroid pieces around, and in, six dead “white dwarf” stars. The scientists believe that these asteroids, which not only make up our planet but also the other rocky bodies in our solar system, could be common in solar systems across the universe. If this is indeed true, then rocky planets similar to Earth could be common in other solar systems besides our own.

New planets form when the dusty material that swirls around young stars sticks and clump together, and asteroids form from the leftover debris. When stars become older and near the end of their lives, they dispose of their outer layers and shrink down into a “white dwarf.” When an asteroid wanders too close to a “white dwarf,” the gravity of the dwarf shreds the asteroid.

It seems very likely that planets in our neighboring solar systems are similar to Earth. In all of the “white dwarfs,” the Spitzer observed that their dust contains a glassy silicate mineral similar to olivine, which is commonly found on Earth. The telescope also found that there is no carbon in the rocky debris, which is also similar to the asteroids and rocky planets in our solar system.

In order to find absolute proof that other solar systems can support planets similar to Earth, the NASA scientists have to continue using the spectrographs to analyze the dusty material. They should also analyze what elements are present and in what abundance, in order to see how other star systems use their planetary materials.