At a Glance

Researchers have determined that a massive comet-like object is 100,000 times larger than Halley's Comet. The object is being ripped apart and scattered throughout a white dwarf's atmosphere.This finding provides the best evidence yet for a belt of comet-like bodies that are orbiting the white dwarf.

Scientists using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have recentlydiscovered that a massive comet-like object 100,000 times bigger than Halley’s Comet is being ripped apart and scattered throughout the atmosphere of a white dwarf.

According to a release from NASA, , though it’s much bigger and contains more water. It’s also rich in elements that are essential for life, such as nitrogen, carbon, oxygen and sulfur.

According to lead researcher Siyi Xu, this is the first time that nitrogen has been detected in the planetary debris that falls into a white dwarf.

“Nitrogen is a very important element for life as we know it,” said Xu in the release. “This particular object is quite rich in nitrogen, more so than any object observed in our solar system.”

When it comes to white dwarfs, as many as 25 to 50 percent of them are known to be polluted with debris from asteroid-like objects. But in this particular instance, this is the first time a body made of icy, comet-like material has been polluting a white dwarf’s atmosphere.

The image above is an artist's concept of a massive, comet-like object falling toward a white dwarf. New Hubble Space Telescope findings are evidence for a belt of comet-like bodies orbiting the white dwarf, similar to our solar system's Kuiper Belt.

(NASA, ESA, and Z. Levy (STScI))

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The researchers’ findings also suggest that there are unseen, surviving planets that may have disturbed the belt and pulled the icy objects into the white dwarf.

The burned out star also has a companion star that is separated by 2,000 times the distance that the Earth is from the sun. This celestial sidekick may be perturbing the belt and causing objects to travel toward the white dwarf.

These discoveries are the best evidence yet for a belt of comet-like bodies that are orbiting the white dwarf in a setup similar to our solar system’s Kuiper Belt. The icy bodies apparently survived the star becoming a bloated red giant before collapsing into a small, dense white dwarf, also according to the space agency.

This new information supports the idea that icy bodies can also be found in other planetary systems and have survived throughout the star’s evolution.

A white dwarf is what stars like the sun become after exhausting their nuclear fuel. When it nears the end of its nuclear burning stage, , according to NASA. Only its hot core remains and becomes a white dwarf with a temperature that exceeds 100,000 Kelvin, which is equivalent to almost 180,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

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