White Dwarfs Eat More Planetary Debris Than Thought, But Magnetic Fields Hide It

This artist's illustration shows a white dwarf surrounded by a debris disk. Astronomers are finding more and more white dwarfs with metallic debris disks, which suggests the debris comes from planetary systems. New research examines how white dwarfs accrete this debris, showing that it's much more common than thought, and that white dwarfs accrete more planetary debris than thought. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

Planetary debris disks around white dwarfs appear to be more plentiful than thought. That’s because some white dwarfs are magnetic, and those magnetic fields create patches of metallic debris near the stars’ poles, where it’s more difficult to detect. This leads to an underestimation of debris, something new research is trying to correct.

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