This star stood out from the rest owing to the relative overabundance of the elements iron, nickel, and sulphur in the dust found in its atmosphere. Not only is this clear evidence that these stars once had rocky exoplanetary bodies that have now been destroyed, but also the observations of one particular white dwarf, PG0843+516, may tell the story of the destruction of these worlds.
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Given this, the astronomers must literally be observing the final phase of the death of these worlds as the material rains down on the stars at rates of up to 2.2 million pounds (1 million kilograms) every second. The atmosphere of a white dwarf is made up of hydrogen and/or helium, so any heavy elements that come into their atmosphere are dragged downward to their core and out of sight within a matter of days by the dwarf’s high gravity. Not only is this clear evidence that these stars once had at least one rocky exoplanet that they have now destroyed, but also the observations must pinpoint the last phase of the death of these worlds. This is the first time that such low proportions of carbon have been measured in the atmospheres of white dwarf stars polluted by debris. However, an even more significant observation was that this material also contained an extremely low proportion of carbon, which matched very closely the composition of Earth and the other rocky planets orbiting closest to our Sun.
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Using the Hubble Space Telescope for the biggest survey to date of the chemical composition of the atmospheres of white dwarf stars, the researchers found that the most frequently occurring elements in the dust around these four white dwarfs were oxygen, magnesium, iron, and silicon - the four elements that make up roughly 93 percent of Earth. University of Warwick astrophysicists have pinpointed four white dwarfs surrounded by dust from shattered planetary bodies that once bore striking similarities to the composition of Earth.