Minor planet

Minor planet (5)

Synopsis: Space: Space generale: Celestial body: Planet: Minor planet: Minor planet:


futurity_sci_tech 00867.txt

In the study published in Science researchers suggest it is most likely that the water detected around the white dwarf GD 61 came from a minor planet at least 90 kilometers (56 miles) in diameterĂ¢

It is likely that the object was as large as Vesta the largest minor planet in the solar system.

The water-rich minor planet was knocked out of its regular orbit and plunged into a very close orbit where it was shredded by the starĂ¢#gravitational force.

Researchers believe that destabilizing the orbit of the minor planet requires a so far unseen much larger planet going around the white dwarf. t this stage in its existence all that remains of this rocky body is simply dust

Using a sophisticated computer model of the white dwarf atmosphere developed by Detlev Koester at the University of Kiel they were able to infer the chemical composition of the shredded minor planet.


< Back - Next >


Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011