Why are dead planets beaming radio waves into space? Astronomers on cusp of big discovery
Dr Dimitri Veras from the University of Warwick, who led the study, said: “Nobody has ever found just the bare core of a major planet before, nor a major planet only through monitoring magnetic signatures, nor a major around a White Dwarf.
“Therefore, a discovery here would represent ‘firsts’ in three different senses for planetary systems.”
A White Dwarf star can glow for billions of years while interacting with the planets it has destroyed.
These interactions are caused by the flowing magnetic fields between the star and orbiting planetary cores.
READ MORE: Terrifying picture of Sun reveals giant sunspots ‘stifling flow of energy’