Free Astronomy Magazine January-February 2016

SPACE CHRONICLES A n artist's impression of the debris disc around the white dwarf SDSS J1228+1040 (left) at the same scale as Saturn and its rings (right). While the white dwarf in SDSS J1228+1040 has about seven times smaller diameter than Saturn, it has a mass 2500 times greater. [Mark Garlick ( www.markgarlick.com) and University of Warwick/ESO/NASA/Cassini] T he side video shows the ring of dust particles and debris orbit- ing the Earth-sized burnt out stellar core SDSS J1228 +1040. [Mark Gar- lick ( www.mark- garlick.com) and University of Warwick/ESO] bris disc orbiting the white dwarf back in 2006, we could not have imagined the exquisite details that are now visible in this image, con- structed from twelve years of data — it was definitely worth the wait,” added Boris Gänsicke, a co-author of the study. Remnants such as J1228 +1040 can provide key clues to un- derstanding the environments that exist as stars reach the ends of their lives. This can help astronomers to understand the processes that oc- cur in exoplanetary systems and even forecast the fate of the Solar System when the Sun meets its demise in about seven billion years. tional field of the white dwarf. They also find that the disc is somewhat lopsided and has not yet become cir- cular. “When we discovered this de- The new long-term study with the VLT has now allowed the team to watch the disc precess under the in- fluence of the very strong gravita- n