(Phys.org)—WD 1145+017,a white dwarf star located some 570 light years from the Earth, captured the attention of astronomers final year, or when evidence suggested that a rocky thing orbiting it was being ripped apart. It was the first discovery of a planetological body transiting a white dwarf. Now,a team of astronomers lead by Saul Rappaport of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), unveils evidence that the mysterious thing is an asteroid and its fragments are drifting around this dense star remnant. A paper describing the new findings was published online on Feb. 1 in the arXiv journal.
Source: phys.org