How do planets survive the death of a massive star?
In short: Explore the universe's most extreme worlds: planets orbiting pulsars. This video investigates how these ancient, fast-moving planets form and why they remain the only planets known to orbit dead stars.
In 1992, Aleksander Wolszczan used the Arecibo radio telescope to identify the first exoplanets ever discovered, orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12. Pulsars are the collapsed, rapidly rotating cores of exploded massive stars that pulse with radiation like a lighthouse.
While over 160 planets have since been found around stars burning nuclear fuel, Wolszczan's three planets remain the only ones found around a dead star. These worlds, two of which are roughly Earth-sized, may represent a second generation of planets formed after the first were destroyed by the star's explosion. Evidence of a dusty disk around a pulsar suggests the potential for such reborn systems.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Exotic Planets of Exotic Stars | Pulsar Planets
- Also: Extreme Planets - NASA Science
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