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Polluted Dead Star Indicates Planets Like Earth May Have Formed Around Other Stars
ScienceDaily ^
| August 16, 2007
| UCLA press release
Posted on 08/17/2007 10:13:12 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Astronomers from UCLA report that a white dwarf star known as GD 362, which is surrounded by dusty rings similar to those of Saturn, has been contaminated by a large asteroid that left more than a dozen observable chemical elements in the white dwarf's atmosphere... The UCLA astronomers think that after about a billion years orbiting the white dwarf as part of an ancient planetary system, an asteroid got close enough to the star to be torn apart by its very strong gravitational force field... The asteroid broke apart into dust particles that orbited the white dwarf and over time "polluted the white dwarf's atmosphere," said Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy and lead author of the research... Zuckerman said the research result does not rule out the possibility that two planets in this ancient planetary system collided and the orbiting dust and detected elements are from a piece of one of the colliding planets... The group of astronomers... detected 17 elements in the atmosphere of the white dwarf... Many of the elements have never before been detected in the atmosphere of a white dwarf, including the rare elements strontium and scandium.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: annanicolesmith; catastrophism; xplanets
Artist's visualization of a dust disk around the white dwarf GD 362. This new research implies that the forces that made the Earth and our inner solar system seem to have occurred in this system as well, and probably around other white dwarfs too. (Credit: Gemini Observatory Illustration by Jon Lomberg) |
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1
posted on
08/17/2007 10:13:17 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
To: 75thOVI; AFPhys; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; BenLurkin; Berosus; ...
2
posted on
08/17/2007 10:13:45 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Friday, August 17, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: KevinDavis; annie laurie; garbageseeker; Knitting A Conundrum; Viking2002; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
3
posted on
08/17/2007 10:14:30 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Friday, August 17, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: SunkenCiv
...has been contaminated by a large asteroid that left more than a dozen observable chemical elements in the white dwarf's atmosphere... I see Glob Al Warming has been busy....
4
posted on
08/17/2007 10:16:55 AM PDT
by
Monkey Face
(I had a lazy eye when I was a kid and it gradually spread to my whole body. ~~ Tom Cotter)
To: SunkenCiv
Had the Kyoto Accord been signed, white dwarves wouldn’t have to put up with such pollution.
5
posted on
08/17/2007 10:17:27 AM PDT
by
theDentist
(Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
To: SunkenCiv
If I’m not already on the catastrophism ping list, I should be.
Thanks.
6
posted on
08/17/2007 10:19:05 AM PDT
by
jeddavis
To: SunkenCiv
Polluted Dead Star ...And here I was thinking this was going to be yet another Anna Nicole thread.
7
posted on
08/17/2007 10:22:29 AM PDT
by
dfwgator
(The University of Florida - Still Championship U)
To: SunkenCiv
Polluted Dead Star Elvis...?
8
posted on
08/17/2007 10:22:48 AM PDT
by
atomicpossum
(Replies must follow approved guidelines or you will be kill-filed without appeal.)
To: dfwgator
:’) way ahead of ya... ;’)
9
posted on
08/17/2007 10:34:59 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Friday, August 17, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: theDentist
Instead of them, the treaty has been tossed.
10
posted on
08/17/2007 10:36:35 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Friday, August 17, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: Monkey Face
Well, by his standards, he has... ;’)
11
posted on
08/17/2007 10:36:58 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Friday, August 17, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: jeddavis
12
posted on
08/17/2007 10:37:41 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Friday, August 17, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: atomicpossum
A peanut butter and banana sandwich does sound good about now...
13
posted on
08/17/2007 10:39:59 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Friday, August 17, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: SunkenCiv
Fascinating.
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