Dying White Dwarf Stars Consume Rocky Earth-Like Planets

Astronomers say they have discovered two dying white dwarf stars encircled by debris fields containing a mixture of elements that suggest a rocky Earth-like planet, asteroid or other body may have orbited the stars much earlier in their history.

The University of California at Los Angeles astronomers made their observations with the Keck One telescope in the U.S. Pacific island state of Hawaii.

A white dwarf star is only about the size of the Earth, but about one million times denser with the approximate mass of our Sun. The hallmark of a white dwarf is a pollution-free atmosphere of either hydrogen or helium.