Artist’s impression of debris around a white dwarf star
This illustration is an artist's impression of the thin, rocky debris disc discovered around the two Hyades white dwarfs. Rocky asteroids are thought to have been perturbed by planets within the system and diverted inwards towards the star, where they broke up, circled into a debris ring, and were then dragged onto the star itself.
Credit:NASA, ESA, STScI, and G. Bacon (STScI)
About the Image
Id: | heic1309a |
Type: | Artwork |
Release date: | 9 May 2013, 16:00 |
Related releases: | heic1309 |
Size: | 3600 x 2880 px |
About the Object
Name: | Hyades, WD0421+162, WD0431+126 |
Type: | Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : White Dwarf Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Cluster : Open Milky Way : Star : Circumstellar Material : Disk : Debris |
Distance: | 150 light years |
Category: | Illustrations |