Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile have discovered an unusual double-ring debris disc surrounding a distant white dwarf. Located approximately 1,600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo, the star—designated J1328−1450—provides a rare look into what could become of our own solar system when the Sun reaches the end of its life cycle.
While researchers had previously identified 21 white dwarfs surrounded by planetary debris, all of those earlier systems featured only a single disc. The findings regarding J1328−1450, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, suggest that the remnants of planetary systems can form far more complex structures than scientists previously understood.
Study co-author Felipe Lagos-Vilches, an astronomer at the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria in Chile, explained that the star likely harbored a planetary system before expanding into a red giant. That expansion engulfed its innermost worlds while allowing more distant celestial bodies to survive. Researchers believe the newly discovered double-ring architecture was shaped by two rocky bodies that managed to endure the star's destructive transformation.
“It shows that the remnants of a planetary system can have a much more complex structure than we previously thought, and provides further support to the idea that planetary rocky bodies may survive the transformation of a star into a white dwarf,” Lagos-Vilches said. He noted that the surviving system did not vanish entirely, adding, “Some surviving rocky bodies may have been gravitationally perturbed onto highly eccentric orbits that brought them close to the white dwarf.”
In roughly five billion years, the Sun is projected to exhaust its nuclear fuel and swell into a red giant, shedding its outer layers to leave behind a dense core known as a white dwarf. During that transition, inner planets face potential destruction. “Mercury and Venus are expected to be engulfed by the expanding sun, while there is still no clear consensus on whether Earth will also be engulfed during this phase,” Lagos-Vilches said.
Outer gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn, along with more distant celestial bodies, stand a significantly higher chance of surviving the expansion phase. However, once the Sun transitions into a white dwarf, any surviving planets, moons, or asteroids could eventually be pulled inward by gravitational forces and torn apart. According to Lagos-Vilches, “A debris disc like the one around J1328−1450 could therefore represent one possible stage in the very distant future of our own planetary system.”
