Home
Science
Science News
Hubble Spots White Dwarf Devouring Icy Pluto Like Planet 260 Light Years Away

Hubble Spots White Dwarf Devouring Icy Pluto-Like Planet 260 Light-Years Away

Hubble observations show a white dwarf star shredding and accreting a volatile-rich, Pluto-like body 260 light-years away. The discovery suggests icy worlds can survive stellar death and hints at our own solar system’s far future.

Written by Gadgets 360 Staff | Updated: 24 September 2025 22:30 IST

Hubble Spots White Dwarf Devouring Icy Pluto-Like Planet 260 Light-Years Away

Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Hubble spots white dwarf devouring a Pluto-like planet 260 light-years away

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Highlights

Hubble detects icy debris falling onto a white dwarf star
Elements reveal a Pluto-like body with 64% water ice content
Offers a glimpse of how our solar system may evolve in billions of years

Observing a cosmic cataclysm with the Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has found a white dwarf, the compact remains of a star the size of the Sun, eating the icy cores of a Pluto-like planet some 260 light-years distant. This piece is made of volatile materials, and thus, not only does it help us understand how planetary bodies in older star systems might be, but it also presents an interesting view of how our own solar system will be in a billion years.

The Discovery and Evidence

According to the paper, a team of researchers led by Snehalata Sahu of the University of Warwick used Hubble's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph to detect volatile elements, including carbon, sulphur, nitrogen, and a high oxygen content, falling onto the white dwarf. These chemical fingerprints reveal that the consumed object was rich in ices: about 64% water ice, along with nitrogen ices reminiscent of those found on Pluto. The material likely came from a large icy planetesimal in the system's Kuiper Belt analogue, pulled inward and torn apart by the white dwarf's intense gravity.

What it tells us

This observation has some important implications. It indicates that volatile-rich bodies may survive till late stellar evolution stages, unlike the expectation that they are normally expelled at early stages. Also, the event provides a glimpse into the distant future of our Sun: the Sun will become a white dwarf and will likewise be able to accrete icy debris in the far-off corners of the solar system. Future observations with a telescope such as the James Webb Space Telescope will seek further to investigate the molecular characteristics such as water vapor and carbonates to comprehend these dramatic endings better.

Blue Origin Successfully Launches 35th New Shepard Mission After Prolonged Delay

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.