A planetesimal orbiting within the debris disc around a white dwarf star

Manser, C. J.; Gänsicke, Boris T.; Eggl, Siegfried; Hollands, Mark; Izquierdo, P.; Koester, Detlev; Landstreet, John D.; Lyra, Wladimir; Marsh, Thomas R.; Meru, Farzana; Mustill, Alexander J.; Rodríguez-Gil, P.; Toloza, Odette; Veras, Dimitri; Wilson, David J.; Burleigh, Matthew R.; Davies, Melvyn B.; Farihi, Jay; Gentile Fusillo, Nicola; de Martino, Domitilla; Parsons, Steven G.; Quirrenbach, Andreas; Raddi, Roberto; Reffert, Sabine; Del Santo, Melania; Schreiber, Matthias R.; Silvotti, Roberto; Toonen, Silvia; Villaver, Eva; Wyatt, Mark; Xu, Siyi; Portegies Zwart, Simon
Bibliographical reference

Science, Volume 364, Issue 6435, pp. 66-69 (2019).

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4
2019
Journal
Number of authors
32
IAC number of authors
2
Citations
120
Refereed citations
113
Description
Many white dwarf stars show signs of having accreted smaller bodies, implying that they may host planetary systems. A small number of these systems contain gaseous debris discs, visible through emission lines. We report a stable 123.4-minute periodic variation in the strength and shape of the Ca II emission line profiles originating from the debris disc around the white dwarf SDSS J122859.93+104032.9. We interpret this short-period signal as the signature of a solid-body planetesimal held together by its internal strength.
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