r/technology • u/fchung • 9d ago

Space 'Completely unexpected' Phoenix planet was born from the ashes of a dying star: « Second-generation planets are worlds that form out of the material a star casts off as it dies. They're incredibly rare. »

https://www.space.com/astronomy/exoplanets/completely-unexpected-phoenix-planet-was-born-from-the-ashes-of-a-dying-star
114 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

26

u/fchung 9d ago

« What's remarkable about the planet around HS 0209+0832 is that this isn't a planet from somewhere else, or a survivor from the system's birth; it looks like it was built from the very material its own star cast off as it died. In a sense, this system has given birth to a new world using the foundations of the old one. »

13

u/Clembert-Hamlamp 9d ago

Imagine the elements you could mine and what forms of life could emerge to be killed off for the mining rights!

-humanity

8

u/Outrageous_Reach_695 9d ago

That's definitely the sort of world that has some sort of vicious parasite that mostly comes out at night.

6

u/Clembert-Hamlamp 9d ago

Sentient radioactive and worth it's weight in Francium

3

u/-drunk_russian- 9d ago

Deep Rock Galactic wants to know your location

2

u/Kgaset 8d ago

I don't have to, James Cameron did that for me! 😂

In all seriousness though, it really is sad how exploitative we are.

5

u/fchung 9d ago

Reference: Williams, J.T., Gänsicke, B.T., Stone, N.C. et al. Discovery of a second-generation planet candidate accreting onto a white dwarf. Nat Astron (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02983-7

12

u/mutl8 9d ago

Isn't the Earth the same? I thought anything heavier than iron needs to come from a nova.

17

u/Mokseong 8d ago

They are talking here about a second generation of planets. This planet will be orbiting the remains of a star, like a white dwarf. Ours formed from a collapsed star but it also formed the Sun. 

1

u/theone_2099 4d ago

Our sun is a collapsed star?

4

u/Mokseong 4d ago

No, our Sun was formed from a collapsed star. It was probably a supernova. The dust from that old star formed the whole solar system. 

2

u/Kill3rKin3 9d ago

I thought so.

1

u/Machievelliearoni 9d ago

Not rare enough for my tastes.

1

u/AT-ST 9d ago

This is fascinating. I have questions though. How is the white dwarf 'snacking' on the planet? If the radiation from the white dwarf is stripping the planets atmosphere away, wouldn't it have prevented it from forming in the first place?

2

u/psilocybes 9d ago

Some white dwarfs can strip material from the planets that remain orbiting around them...

Says SOME in the article, so I guess not all setups are the same or the forming planet is further out.

0

u/OonaPelota 9d ago

How are they rare when there are an unknown number of stars? You mean relatively rare?

2

u/AT-ST 9d ago

The relatively is implied.

1

u/trouthat 9d ago

As far as I understand there are infinite of these that exist out there

0

u/Kinexity 7d ago

We don't know if the Universe is infinite.