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Rare Discovery: Icy Bodies Feeding Distant White Dwarf

9/21/2025

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Summary

Story summary

Astronomers examined white dwarf WD 1647+375, 260 light years away, using the Hubble Space Telescope.
The star is accreting icy, volatile-rich material, indicating Kuiper Belt-like bodies in its solar system.
Detected material is rich in nitrogen and oxygen, suggesting it may be a water-rich fragment of a dwarf planet like Pluto.
The nitrogen abundance is the highest recorded in white dwarf debris.
The icy object has been feeding the star for at least 13 years at a rate of 200,000 kg per second, supporting the existence of icy bodies in other planetary systems.

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Story summary

Astronomers examined white dwarf WD 1647+375, 260 light years away, using the Hubble Space Telescope.
The star is accreting icy, volatile-rich material, indicating Kuiper Belt-like bodies in its solar system.
Detected material is rich in nitrogen and oxygen, suggesting it may be a water-rich fragment of a dwarf planet like Pluto.
The nitrogen abundance is the highest recorded in white dwarf debris.
The icy object has been feeding the star for at least 13 years at a rate of 200,000 kg per second, supporting the existence of icy bodies in other planetary systems.