"Earth-Like Planets Discovered In Atmospheres Of Dead Stars" Topic

If true, really, really weird.

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"Astronomers say they found the planets sitting in the atmospheres of a pair of burnt-out stars in a nearby star cluster. The white dwarf stars are being polluted by debris from asteroid-like objects falling onto them, and the researchers say this discovery suggests that rocky planet assembly may be common in such clusters.

Hubble's observations helped identify silicon in the atmospheres of two white dwarfs, which is a major ingredient in the rocky material that makes up a large part of Earth. This silicon could have come from asteroids that were torn apart by the white dwarfs' gravity, and asteroids are often the building blocks of rocky planets. The rocky debris likely formed a ring around the dead stars, which eventually funneled the material inwards. The scientists say the debris detected around the white dwarfs suggests that terrestrial planets formed when these stars were born."

To be expected – despite a star being "dead" the same forces that applied to objects in orbit continue, and some planetary bodies might be expected to accrete in them form the debris of, perhaps, former planets.

Conditions on those asteroids and worlds would be very extreme though – White Dwarfs are mainly intensely hot masese of mainly carbon and oxygen "atomic ash", so the main product of the star is heat, not visible light, and will in a very long time become the theoretical Black Dwarf . . . a literal cinder.

Do you REALLY need a 'planet'???? How about a 'Smoke Ring'????

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Ah, yes— The Integral Trees. Fascinating concept.

Man. Never saw the Integral trees/Smoke Ring concept before.

That is really intriguing!

I'd need serious drugs to come up with that.

The Wiki article mentions "prehensile toes" – essentially an extra joint in their toes?

Gawd. This stuff really freaks you out the more you think about it.

"The Wiki article mentions "prehensile toes" – essentially an extra joint in their toes?"

Not needed- just longer toes so they are shaped like fingers. A frequent mutation even today.

The "Smoke Ring" is an intriguing possibility of course, but it would have conditions so far from those of a polanet that life developing there would be far and away unlike anything on Earth, except perhaps in a passing resemblence to aquatic life.