Long-gone planets’ metal composition preserved as pollution around the dead stars that consumed them

An image showing debris ring around a white dwarf star

Source: © Science Photo Library

Lithium pollution around white dwarf stars offers glimpse at the metal abundances on ancient rocky bodies

Planets that once succumbed to the enormous gravitational pull of a white dwarf star might show up as metal pollution around these burnt-out stars. The lithium and potassium signatures of polluted white dwarfs could allow researchers to reconstruct the metal composition of such long-gone exoplanets and other rocky bodies.