Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers for the first time managed to detect a massive comet-like object that is scattered in the atmosphere of a white dwarf – the burned-out remnants of a small star. Information about this discovery was recently presented on the official website of the space observatory.
The chemical composition of the discovered object is very similar to that of Halley's comet, but at the same time it is 100,000 times more massive and contains much more water inside. In addition, the object is rich in elements considered essential for the origin of life, such as nitrogen, carbon, oxygen and sulfur.
These data suggest that there may be belts of comet-like bodies orbiting a white dwarf, which are similar to the Kuiper belt of our solar system. NASA scientists have suggested that these icy bodies apparently went through a tragic stage in the evolution of the star, when it became a bloated red giant, and then collapsed and turned into a small, dense white dwarf.
It is believed that 25 to 50 percent of the white dwarfs discovered are contaminated with debris from the remnants of planets, but this is the first time that an ice body, presumably a comet, has been recorded as an object polluting a white dwarf's atmosphere.
Sources: hubblesite
