The rings around J1328−1450 contain different amounts of magnesium. Researchers propose that two surviving rocky bodies help maintain them, but have not seen those bodies directly.
Astronomers have found two concentric rings of gaseous planetary debris, separated by a gap, around the white dwarf J1328−1450. The finding breaks a pattern: all 21 previously known comparable white dwarfs with gaseous debris had a single disc.
A white dwarf is the dense core left after a Sun-like star runs out of fuel, expands and sheds its outer layers. J1328−1450 lies about 1,600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. It has about 47% of the Sun’s mass in a diameter roughly the size of Earth’s.
The researchers used the X-shooter instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile to measure the speed of gas orbiting the star. The signal had four peaks rather than the two seen in the other systems, indicating two rings of gas moving at different speeds.
| Ring | Distance from the star |
|---|---|
| Inner | About 100,000 to 240,000 kilometers |
| Outer | About 375,000 to more than 1.3 million kilometers |
Repeated observations between 2021 and 2023 showed that the structure remained stable for more than two years. The University of Warwick announced the finding on 27 October 2026; the study was published in Nature Astronomy.
Analysis
The outer ring has much less magnesium than the inner one. Study coauthor Felipe Lagos-Vilches, identified with Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María in Chile by CNA and with the University of Warwick’s Department of Physics by Warwick, said that difference could mean the material came from different parent bodies, or from different layers of one rocky body torn apart by the white dwarf’s gravity.
The team proposes that one surviving rocky body within each ring keeps the structure intact and releases gas as it interacts with surrounding dust. Lead author Nicola Pietro Gentile Fusillo said the bodies have not been seen directly; their likely presence is inferred from the gas’s shape and composition. Models suggest an asteroid-scale inner body and an outer body potentially as large as Pluto or the Moon.
Lagos-Vilches suggested that the original star may have swallowed inner planets as it expanded, while more distant bodies survived. Later gravitational disturbances could have sent some survivors close to the white dwarf, whose gravity tore them apart and spread their material into a disc of dust and gas.
The research was led by astronomers from the University of Trieste and the University of Warwick. Gentile Fusillo is affiliated with the University of Trieste and INAF–Astronomical Observatory of Trieste. Lagos-Vilches said the system points to more complex planetary remnants than previously thought and supports the possibility that rocky bodies survive a star’s transformation into a white dwarf.
Lagos-Vilches said such a disc could represent one possible stage in the distant future of the Solar System; there is no clear consensus on whether the expanding Sun will engulf Earth. Warwick professor Boris Gänsicke wants more detailed observations to learn which bodies may have shaped J1328−1450's rings.
Two teeth found in southern Thailand reveal Yakamys sirindhornae, a rodent that lived about 34–35 million years ago. Researchers estimate it weighed 21.4–47.3 kg, though the estimate is uncertain.
2 min
A hospital director said 180 patients fled after the overnight attack in Cantine, including one confirmed Ebola patient and suspected cases, interrupting care during an outbreak.
2 min
The Environment Committee voted 48–26, with 5 abstentions, to object to the proposed approvals, according to Recycling Europe. EU member states retain the final say.
3 min
