• Question: how are you planning on fnding out what happens when other planet's stars dissapear?

    Asked by Annie to David on 10 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by Danny.
    • Photo: David Wilson

      David Wilson answered on 10 Nov 2014:


      We have a few ways. When a star runs out of fuel it doesn’t go completely, it shrinks down into a tiny object called a white dwarf, about the size of the Earth. We can take a picture of the atmosphere of the white dwarf and split the light into it’s separate colours, or a spectrum- exactly like what a rainbow does for the Sun. With this “star rainbow” we can see the bits of the planets that are falling onto the white dwarf – it’s our only way to find out what planets around other stars are made off. We can also see discs of gas and dust around the white dwarf, like Saturn’s rings. These can help us find out what’s going on in the remains of the planets system around the white dwarf, like how the asteroids are moving about.

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