# Astronomers spot white dwarf star with two rings of planetary debris

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/astronomers-spot-white-dwarf-star-with-two-rings-of-planetary-debris/
- Published: 2026-11-07T10:01:21+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-07T10:20:17+00:00
- Original publisher: CNA (publisher lean: Centre)
- Original article: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/astronomers-spot-white-dwarf-star-two-rings-planetary-debris-6532951
- Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, World

## Key points

- A white dwarf has two rings of planetary debris.
- The system lies about 1,600 light-years from Earth.
- Rocky bodies may have survived the star’s death.

## Summary

Astronomers have found two distinct rings of planetary debris around the white dwarf J1328−1450, offering evidence that planetary systems can leave behind more complex remnants than previously observed. The discovery also supports the possibility that some rocky bodies survive a star’s transformation into a white dwarf, a fate expected for the Sun in about five billion years.

Located about 1,600 light-years away in Virgo, J1328−1450 has roughly 47 per cent of the Sun’s mass compressed into a diameter about the size of Earth. Observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope revealed the double-ring structure; the 21 white dwarfs previously identified with surrounding debris each had a single disc. Researchers suggest two surviving rocky bodies, perhaps one around Pluto’s size and another smaller, may have helped shape the rings, whose magnesium levels differ.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.