Disrupted planet

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Artist concept of a rocky planetary object being vaporized by its parent star Artist's impression of a white dwarf devouring a minor planet.jpg
Artist concept of a rocky planetary object being vaporized by its parent star

In astronomy, a disrupted planet [1] [2] is a planet or exoplanet or, perhaps on a somewhat smaller scale, a planetary-mass object, planetesimal, moon, exomoon or asteroid that has been disrupted or destroyed by a nearby or passing astronomical body or object such as a star. [1] [2] Necroplanetology is the related study of such a process. [3] [4]

Contents

The result of such a disruption may be the production of excessive amounts of related gas, dust and debris, [5] which may eventually surround the parent star in the form of a circumstellar disk or debris disk. As a consequence, the orbiting debris field may be an "uneven ring of dust", causing erratic light fluctuations in the apparent luminosity of the parent star, as may have been responsible for the oddly flickering light curves associated with the starlight observed from certain variable stars, such as that from Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852), RZ Piscium and WD 1145+017. [3] [4] Excessive amounts of infrared radiation may be detected from such stars, [6] suggestive evidence in itself that dust and debris may be orbiting the stars. [5] [7] [8] [9]

Examples

Planets

Examples of planets, or their related remnants, considered to have been a disrupted planet, or part of such a planet, include: ‘Oumuamua [10] and WD 1145+017 b, as well as asteroids, [11] hot Jupiters [12] and those that are hypothetical planets, like Fifth planet, Phaeton, Planet V and Theia.

Stars

Examples of parent stars considered to have disrupted a planet include: EPIC 204278916, Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852), PDS 110, RZ Piscium, WD 1145+017 and 47 Ursae Majoris.

Artist concept of an "uneven ring of dust" surrounding Tabby's Star PIA22081-KIC8462852-TabbysStar-UnevenDustRing-Illustration-20171004.png
Artist concept of an "uneven ring of dust" surrounding Tabby's Star

Tabby's Star light curve

Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852) is an F-type main-sequence star exhibiting unusual light fluctuations, including up to a 22% dimming in brightness. [13] Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain these irregular changes, but none to date fully explain all aspects of the curve. One explanation is that an "uneven ring of dust" orbits Tabby's Star. [14] [15] However, in September 2019, astronomers reported that the observed dimmings of Tabby's Star may have been produced by fragments resulting from the disruption of an orphaned exomoon. [16] [17]

Consolidated plot of KIC 8462852 dip maxima March 2020 update.png
Consolidated plot of all known dimmings (as of 1 March 2020)

See also

Related Research Articles

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Kepler-1520 is a K-type main-sequence star located in the constellation Cygnus. The star is particularly important, as measurements taken by the Kepler spacecraft indicate that the variations in the star's light curve cover a range from about 0.2% to 1.3% of the star's light being blocked. This indicates that there may be a rapidly disintegrating planet, a prediction not yet conclusively confirmed, in orbit around the star, losing mass at a rate of 1 Earth mass every billion years. The planet itself is about 0.1 Earth masses, or just twice the mass of Mercury, and is expected to disintegrate in about 100-200 million years. The planet orbits its star in just 15.7 hours, at a distance only two stellar diameters away from the star's surface, and has an estimated effective temperature of about 2255 K. The orbital period of the planet is one of the shortest ever detected in the history of the extrasolar planet search. In 2016, the planet was confirmed as part of a data release by the Kepler spacecraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planet Hunters</span> Citizen science project to find exoplanets

Planet Hunters is a citizen science project to find exoplanets using human eyes. It does this by having users analyze data from the NASA Kepler space telescope and the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. It was launched by a team led by Debra Fischer at Yale University, as part of the Zooniverse project.

Kepler-80, also known as KOI-500, is a red dwarf star of the spectral type M0V. This stellar classification places Kepler-80 among the very common, cool, class M stars that are still within their main evolutionary stage, known as the main sequence. Kepler-80, like other red dwarf stars, is smaller than the Sun, and it has both radius, mass, temperatures, and luminosity lower than that of our own star. Kepler-80 is found approximately 1,223 light years from the Solar System, in the stellar constellation Cygnus, also known as the Swan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exocomet</span> Comet outside the Solar System

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-90</span> Star in the constellation Draco, orbited by eight planets

Kepler-90, also designated 2MASS J18574403+4918185, is a G-type star located about 2,790 light-years (855 pc) from Earth in the constellation of Draco. It is notable for possessing a planetary system that has the same number of observed planets as the Solar System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-90g</span> Super-puff exoplanet in the constellation Draco

Kepler-90g is a super-puff exoplanet orbiting the early G-type main sequence star Kepler-90, one of eight planets around this star discovered using NASA's Kepler space telescope. It is located about 2,840 light-years (870 pc) from Earth, in the constellation Draco. The exoplanet was found by using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured. It orbits its parent star about every 210.5 days at a distance of 0.71 astronomical units.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabby's Star</span> Star noted for unusual dimming events

Tabby's Star is an F-type main-sequence star in the constellation Cygnus approximately 1,470 light-years from Earth. A distant red dwarf companion has been reported, making Tabby's Star a binary stellar system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabetha S. Boyajian</span> American astronomer

Tabetha "Tabby" Suzanne Boyajian is an American astronomer of Armenian descent and astrophysicist on faculty at Louisiana State University. She was a post-doctoral fellow 2012–16 at Yale University, working with Debra Fischer. Boyajian is active in the astronomical fields of stellar interferometry, stellar spectroscopy, exoplanet research, and high angular resolution astronomy, all particularly at optical and infrared wavelengths. She was the lead author of the September 2015 paper "Where's the Flux?", which investigated the highly unusual light curve of KIC 8462852; the star is colloquially known as Tabby's Star in her honor.

WD 1145+017 is a white dwarf approximately 570 light-years (170 pc) from Earth in the constellation of Virgo. It is the first white dwarf to be observed with a transiting planetary-mass object orbiting it.

Kepler-84 is a Sun-like star 4,700 light-years from the Sun. It is a G-type star. The stellar radius measurement has a large uncertainty of 48% as in 2017, complicating the modelling of the star. The Kepler-84 star has two suspected stellar companions. Four red dwarfs are few arcseconds away and at least one is probably gravitationally bound to Kepler-84. Another is a yellow star of mass 0.855M☉ on projected separations of 0.18±0.05″ or 0.26″.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kepler-1520b</span> Exoplanet orbiting the star Kepler 1520

Kepler-1520b, is a confirmed exoplanet orbiting the K-type main sequence star Kepler-1520. It is located about 2,020 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus. The exoplanet was found by using the transit method, in which the dimming effect that a planet causes as it crosses in front of its star is measured. The planet was previously proposed in 2012 when reports of its host star recorded drops in its luminosity varying from 0.2% to 1.3%, which indicated a possible planetary companion rapidly disintegrating. In 2015, the planetary nature of the cause of the dips was finally verified. It is expected to disintegrate in about 40–400 million years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hereford Arizona Observatory</span> Observatory

Hereford Arizona Observatory (HAO), IAU-code G95, is an astronomical observatory, owned and operated by amateur astronomer Bruce L. Gary. Observational studies of unusual starlight fluctuations in Tabby's Star and WD 1145+017 are recent interests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RZ Piscium</span> Star in the constellation Pisces

RZ Piscium is a UX Orionis type variable star 608 light-years (186 pc) away, in the constellation Pisces. Over the years, the star has been found to brighten and dim erratically, dimming by as much as a tenth of its usual luminosity. RZ Piscium has been found to emit large amounts of infrared radiation, suggesting the presence of a substantial mass of gas and dust orbiting the star, possibly from a "disrupted planet".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EPIC 204376071</span> Star noted for unusual dimming events

EPIC 204376071 is an M-type star in the constellation of Scorpius. Parallax measurements by the Gaia space observatory put the star at a distance of about 440 light-years from Earth. It is likely a member of the Upper Sco association, and is young enough that it has not yet become a main-sequence star.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VVV-WIT-07</span> Star noted for unusual dimming events

VVV-WIT-07 is a unique variable star which presents a sequence of recurrent dimmings with a possible deep eclipse in July 2012. The star, located in the Scorpius constellation about 23,000 ly (7,100 pc) away, is not a binary star, which would eliminate such a system from explaining the various observed dimmings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WD 0145+234</span> White dwarf in the constellation Aries

WD 0145+234 is a white dwarf star approximately 95 ly (29 pc) from Earth in the constellation of Aries that has been associated with studies suggesting that a very large exoasteroid near the star was substantially disrupted, resulting in a considerable amount of dust and debris around the star. Alternatively, the outburst around WD 0145+234 is explained with ongoing collisions between planetesimals inside the dusty debris disk around the white dwarf.

References

  1. 1 2 Staff (22 December 2017). "Young Star RZ Piscium is 'Eating' Its Own Planets, Astronomers Say". Sci-News.com. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 Fryling, Kevin (21 December 2017). "IU astronomer's analysis helps discover that a star in the constellation Pisces is a 'planet-eater'". Indiana University . Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  3. 1 2 Starr, Michelle (28 March 2020). "Necroplanetology: The Strangest Field of Astronomy You've Never Heard Of". ScienceAlert.com. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  4. 1 2 Duvvuri, Girish M.; Redfield, Seth; Veras, Dimitri (18 March 2020). "Necroplanetology: Simulating the Tidal Disruption of Differentiated Planetary Material Orbiting WD 1145+017". The Astrophysical Journal. 893 (2): 166. arXiv: 2003.08410 . Bibcode:2020ApJ...893..166D. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab7fa0 . S2CID   213004256.
  5. 1 2 Punzi, K. M.; Kastner, J. H.; Melis, C.; Zuckerman, B.; Pilachowski, C.; Gingerich, L.; Knapp, T. (21 December 2017). "Is the Young Star RZ Piscium Consuming Its Own (Planetary) Offspring?". The Astronomical Journal . 155 (1): 33. arXiv: 1712.08962 . Bibcode:2018AJ....155...33P. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/aa9524 . S2CID   119530135.
  6. ↑ Farihi, J.; Jura, M.; Zuckerman, B. (10 March 2009). "Infrared Signatures of Disrupted Minor Planets at White Dwarfs". The Astrophysical Journal. 694 (2): 805–819. arXiv: 0901.0973 . Bibcode:2009ApJ...694..805F. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/694/2/805. S2CID   14171378.
  7. ↑ Landau, Elizabeth (4 October 2017). "Mysterious Dimming of Tabby's Star May Be Caused by Dust". NASA . Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  8. ↑ Meng, Huan Y.A.; et al. (3 October 2017). "Extinction and the Dimming of KIC 8462852". The Astrophysical Journal . 847 (2): 131. arXiv: 1708.07556 . Bibcode:2017ApJ...847..131M. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/aa899c . S2CID   118875846.
  9. ↑ Tabor, Abby (5 October 2017). "The scientific quest to explain Kepler's most enigmatic find". Phys.org . Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  10. ↑ Ćuk, Matija (2017). "1I/ʻOumuamua as a Tidal Disruption Fragment From a Binary Star System". The Astrophysical Journal. 852 (1): L15. arXiv: 1712.01823 . Bibcode:2018ApJ...852L..15C. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aaa3db . S2CID   54959652.
  11. ↑ Soter, Steven (2006). "What is a Planet?". The Astronomical Journal. 132 (6): 2513–2519. arXiv: astro-ph/0608359 . Bibcode:2006AJ....132.2513S. doi:10.1086/508861. S2CID   14676169.
  12. ↑ Nayakshin, Sergei (20 September 2011). "Hot Super Earths: disrupted young jupiters?". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 416 (4): 2974–2980. arXiv: 1103.1846 . Bibcode:2011MNRAS.416.2974N. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19246.x. S2CID   53960650 . Retrieved 25 December 2017.
  13. ↑ Boyajian, T. S.; LaCourse, D. M.; Rappaport, S. A.; Fabrycky, D.; Fischer, D. A.; Gandolfi, D.; Kennedy, G. M.; Korhonen, H.; Liu, M. C. (27 January 2016). "Planet Hunters IX. KIC 8462852 – where's the flux?". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 457 (4): 3988–4004. arXiv: 1509.03622 . Bibcode:2016MNRAS.457.3988B. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw218. ISSN   0035-8711. S2CID   54859232.
  14. ↑ "Mysterious Dimming of Tabby's Star May Be Caused by Dust". NASA/JPL. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  15. ↑ Boyajian, Tabetha S.; Alonso, Roi; Ammerman, Alex; Armstrong, David; Ramos, A. Asensio; Barkaoui, K.; Beatty, Thomas G.; Benkhaldoun, Z.; Benni, Paul (19 January 2018). "The First Post-Kepler Brightness Dips of KIC 8462852". The Astrophysical Journal. 853 (1): L8. arXiv: 1801.00732 . Bibcode:2018ApJ...853L...8B. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aaa405 . ISSN   2041-8213. S2CID   215751718.
  16. ↑ Columbia University (16 September 2019). "New observations help explain the dimming of Tabby's Star". Phys.org . Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  17. ↑ Marinez, Miquel; Stone, Nicholas C.; Metzger, Brian D. (5 September 2019). "Orphaned Exomoons: Tidal Detachment and Evaporation Following an Exoplanet-Star Collision". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 489 (4): 5119–5135. arXiv: 1906.08788 . Bibcode:2019MNRAS.489.5119M. doi:10.1093/mnras/stz2464. S2CID   195316956.
  18. ↑ Gary, Bruce L. (14 November 2017). "Hereford Arizona Observatory photometry observations of KIC 8462852". BruceGary.net. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  19. ↑ Gary, Bruce L. (4 October 2017). "Hereford Arizona Observatory photometry observations of KIC 8462852 between 2 May and 4 October 2017". BruceGary.net. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017. Note: g'-band and r'-band dip depths (and shapes) may differ, with g'-band being more sensitive to dust cloud scattering due to its shorter wavelength (0.47 vs. 0.62 micron). For a reasonable particle size distribution (e.g., Hanson, 0.2 micron) the extinction cross section ratio would produce a depth at r'-band that is 0.57 x depth at g'-band. If g'-band depth is 0.3 %, for example, depth at r'-band could be 0.17 %. The "Tabby Team" measurements (Fig. 3) at r'-band are compatible with that small dip depth. Incidentally, none of these shapes resemble exo-comet tail transits (as described by Rappaport et al, 2017 link); so the mystery of what's producing these week-timescale dips continues! Actually, long oval shapes are known to produce V-shaped dips (think of rings with a high inclination).{{cite web}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  20. ↑ Gary, Bruce L. (1 January 2018). "Hereford Arizona Observatory photometry observations of KIC 8462852 between 2 May and 31 December 2017". BruceGary.net. Archived from the original on 2 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
  21. ↑ Gary, Bruce L. (4 May 2018). "Hereford Arizona Observatory photometry observations of KIC 8462852 between 2 May 2017 and 4 May 2018". BruceGary.net. Archived from the original on 5 May 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  22. ↑ Gary, Bruce (11 January 2020). "KIC 8462852 Hereford Arizona Observatory Photometry Observations #9". Archived from the original on 5 April 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.

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