Astronomers catch two stars consuming their orbiting companions

Two papers published Monday in Nature Astronomy describe stars pulling material from orbiting companions. In one system, a red dwarf and brown dwarf orbit each other every 86.65 minutes, with researchers led by Aaron Householder of MIT finding material flowing from the brown dwarf onto the red dwarf, creating a hot spot that could persist for millions or billions of years.

In the second system, a young white dwarf shows an unusual chemical signature, rich in zinc, copper and niobium, that researchers led by Jamie Williams say points to material from a star's late-life shedding phase. That material may have formed a disk from which a 'second generation' planet developed.

Brightness variations detected by NASA's TESS satellite suggest a close-orbiting giant planet, roughly 0.04 astronomical units out, that intense radiation from the 35,000-kelvin white dwarf may be stripping of gas, some of which eventually falls onto the star. Researchers say it remains unclear whether the object is a wholly new planet or an older core wearing a new atmosphere.

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