White Dwarf Eating Pluto-Like Object

In a nearby corner of our galactic neighborhood, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope just caught a white dwarf star having a cosmic snack.

This burned-out star is about half the mass of our Sun, crammed into a body the size of Earth, and it’s tearing apart something a lot like Pluto.
Thanks to Hubble, we are not only witnessing a star’s strange appetite, but glimpsing our own solar system’s possible future.


For more information, visit science.nasa.gov/mission/hubble

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Paul Morris: Lead Producer

Music Credit:
"Stellar Bloom" by Adrian Nicholas Valdez [SESAC] via Emperia Sigma Publishing [SESAC] and Universal Production Music

Video Credit:
Ring of rocky debris around a white dwarf star: Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, and G. Bacon (STScI)

Red Giant Sun: Credit: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)

Artist Concept of White Dwarf Eating Pluto-Like Object: Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, and Tim Pyle