Hubble Space Telescope catches dead star in cosmic cannibalism - Space.com

A white dwarf's siphoning of planetary bodies provides evidence of a water reservoir.

The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted evidence of a white dwarf star devouring rocky and icy material from its own system, suggesting that water and other volatiles might be common in the outer reaches of planetary systems.

Astronomers used archival data from the Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories to analyze the spectral properties of the white dwarf star G238-44.

The elements detected on the star's surface show that the dead star is siphoning debris from its system's inner and outer reaches.

"By studying these white dwarfs, we hope to gain a better understanding of planetary systems that are still intact."!

G238-44 is a former sunlike star that has shed its outer layers and stopped burning fuel through nuclear fusion!

The discovery that the stellar corpse is simultaneously capturing material from its asteroid belt and Kuiper Belt-like regions, including icy bodies, is significant because it suggests that a "water reservoir" might be a common feature in the outer reaches of planetary systems. .

"The abundances of the elements we see on this white dwarf appear to require both a rocky and a volatile-rich parent body — the first example we've found among studies of hundreds of white dwarfs.".