Topic: white dwarf

In this illustration, WD 1856 b, a potential Jupiter-size planet, orbits its much smaller host star, a dim white dwarf. (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)

A planet that shouldn't exist... does

Matthew Rozsa
This illustration shows the white dwarf WDJ0914+1914 and its Neptune-like exoplanet. Since the icy giant orbits the hot white dwarf at close range, the extreme ultraviolet radiation from the star strips away the planet’s atmosphere. While most of this stripped gas escapes, some of it swirls into a disc, itself accreting onto the white dwarf. (ESO/M. Kornmesser)

A dissolving exoplanet's prophesy

Nicole Karlis