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Disrupted planet
Planet or related being destroyed by a passing object

In astronomy, a disrupted planet is a planet or exoplanet or, perhaps on a somewhat smaller scale, a planetary-mass object, planetesimal, moon, exomoon or asteroid that has been disrupted or destroyed by a nearby or passing astronomical body or object such as a star. Necroplanetology is the related study of such a process.

The result of such a disruption may be the production of excessive amounts of related gas, dust and debris, which may eventually surround the parent star in the form of a circumstellar disk or debris disk. As a consequence, the orbiting debris field may be an "uneven ring of dust", causing erratic light fluctuations in the apparent luminosity of the parent star, as may have been responsible for the oddly flickering light curves associated with the starlight observed from certain variable stars, such as that from Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852), RZ Piscium and WD 1145+017. Excessive amounts of infrared radiation may be detected from such stars, suggestive evidence in itself that dust and debris may be orbiting the stars.

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Examples

Planets

Examples of planets, or their related remnants, considered to have been a disrupted planet, or part of such a planet, include: ‘Oumuamua15 and WD 1145+017 b, as well as asteroids,16 hot Jupiters17 and those that are hypothetical planets, like Fifth planet, Phaeton, Planet V and Theia. Planets can also be disrupted by black holes; one example involves a "Jupiter-like object" being subject to a tidal disruption event by the supermassive black hole IGR J12580+0134, at the center of the galaxy NGC 4845.18

Stars

Examples of parent stars considered to have disrupted a planet include: EPIC 204278916, Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852), PDS 110, RZ Piscium, WD 1145+017 and 47 Ursae Majoris.

Tabby's Star light curve

Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852) is an F-type main-sequence star exhibiting unusual light fluctuations, including up to a 22% dimming in brightness.19 Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain these irregular changes, but none to date fully explain all aspects of the curve. One explanation is that an "uneven ring of dust" orbits Tabby's Star.2021 However, in September 2019, astronomers reported that the observed dimmings of Tabby's Star may have been produced by fragments resulting from the disruption of an orphaned exomoon.2223

Consolidated plot of all known dimmings (as of 1 March 2020)

See also

Further reading

References

  1. Staff (22 December 2017). "Young Star RZ Piscium is 'Eating' Its Own Planets, Astronomers Say". Sci-News.com. Retrieved 23 December 2017. http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/young-star-rz-piscium-eating-planets-05561.html ↩

  2. Fryling, Kevin (21 December 2017). "IU astronomer's analysis helps discover that a star in the constellation Pisces is a 'planet-eater'". Indiana University. Retrieved 23 December 2017. https://news.iu.edu/stories/2017/12/iub/21-science-planet-eating-star.html ↩

  3. Staff (22 December 2017). "Young Star RZ Piscium is 'Eating' Its Own Planets, Astronomers Say". Sci-News.com. Retrieved 23 December 2017. http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/young-star-rz-piscium-eating-planets-05561.html ↩

  4. Fryling, Kevin (21 December 2017). "IU astronomer's analysis helps discover that a star in the constellation Pisces is a 'planet-eater'". Indiana University. Retrieved 23 December 2017. https://news.iu.edu/stories/2017/12/iub/21-science-planet-eating-star.html ↩

  5. Starr, Michelle (28 March 2020). "Necroplanetology: The Strangest Field of Astronomy You've Never Heard Of". ScienceAlert.com. Retrieved 30 March 2020. https://www.sciencealert.com/necroplanetology-the-study-of-planets-dismembered-remains ↩

  6. Duvvuri, Girish M.; Redfield, Seth; Veras, Dimitri (18 March 2020). "Necroplanetology: Simulating the Tidal Disruption of Differentiated Planetary Material Orbiting WD 1145+017". The Astrophysical Journal. 893 (2): 166. arXiv:2003.08410. Bibcode:2020ApJ...893..166D. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab7fa0. S2CID 213004256. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F1538-4357%2Fab7fa0 ↩

  7. Punzi, K. M.; Kastner, J. H.; Melis, C.; Zuckerman, B.; Pilachowski, C.; Gingerich, L.; Knapp, T. (21 December 2017). "Is the Young Star RZ Piscium Consuming Its Own (Planetary) Offspring?". The Astronomical Journal. 155 (1): 33. arXiv:1712.08962. Bibcode:2018AJ....155...33P. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa9524. S2CID 119530135. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F1538-3881%2Faa9524 ↩

  8. Starr, Michelle (28 March 2020). "Necroplanetology: The Strangest Field of Astronomy You've Never Heard Of". ScienceAlert.com. Retrieved 30 March 2020. https://www.sciencealert.com/necroplanetology-the-study-of-planets-dismembered-remains ↩

  9. Duvvuri, Girish M.; Redfield, Seth; Veras, Dimitri (18 March 2020). "Necroplanetology: Simulating the Tidal Disruption of Differentiated Planetary Material Orbiting WD 1145+017". The Astrophysical Journal. 893 (2): 166. arXiv:2003.08410. Bibcode:2020ApJ...893..166D. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab7fa0. S2CID 213004256. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F1538-4357%2Fab7fa0 ↩

  10. Farihi, J.; Jura, M.; Zuckerman, B. (10 March 2009). "Infrared Signatures of Disrupted Minor Planets at White Dwarfs". The Astrophysical Journal. 694 (2): 805–819. arXiv:0901.0973. Bibcode:2009ApJ...694..805F. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/694/2/805. S2CID 14171378. /wiki/ArXiv_(identifier) ↩

  11. Punzi, K. M.; Kastner, J. H.; Melis, C.; Zuckerman, B.; Pilachowski, C.; Gingerich, L.; Knapp, T. (21 December 2017). "Is the Young Star RZ Piscium Consuming Its Own (Planetary) Offspring?". The Astronomical Journal. 155 (1): 33. arXiv:1712.08962. Bibcode:2018AJ....155...33P. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa9524. S2CID 119530135. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F1538-3881%2Faa9524 ↩

  12. Landau, Elizabeth (4 October 2017). "Mysterious Dimming of Tabby's Star May Be Caused by Dust". NASA. Retrieved 23 December 2017. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6963 ↩

  13. Meng, Huan Y.A.; et al. (3 October 2017). "Extinction and the Dimming of KIC 8462852". The Astrophysical Journal. 847 (2): 131. arXiv:1708.07556. Bibcode:2017ApJ...847..131M. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa899c. S2CID 118875846. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F1538-4357%2Faa899c ↩

  14. Tabor, Abby (5 October 2017). "The scientific quest to explain Kepler's most enigmatic find". Phys.org. Retrieved 23 December 2017. https://phys.org/news/2017-10-scientific-quest-kepler-enigmatic.html ↩

  15. Ćuk, Matija (2017). "1I/ʻOumuamua as a Tidal Disruption Fragment From a Binary Star System". The Astrophysical Journal. 852 (1): L15. arXiv:1712.01823. Bibcode:2018ApJ...852L..15C. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aaa3db. S2CID 54959652. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F2041-8213%2Faaa3db ↩

  16. Soter, Steven (2006). "What is a Planet?". The Astronomical Journal. 132 (6): 2513–2519. arXiv:astro-ph/0608359. Bibcode:2006AJ....132.2513S. doi:10.1086/508861. S2CID 14676169. /wiki/ArXiv_(identifier) ↩

  17. Nayakshin, Sergei (20 September 2011). "Hot Super Earths: disrupted young jupiters?". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 416 (4): 2974–2980. arXiv:1103.1846. Bibcode:2011MNRAS.416.2974N. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19246.x. S2CID 53960650. https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2966.2011.19246.x ↩

  18. Lei, Wei-Hua; Yuan, Qiang; Zhang, Bing; Wang, Daniel (1 January 2016). "Igr J12580+0134: The First Tidal Disruption Event with an Off-Beam Relativistic Jet". The Astrophysical Journal. 816 (1): 20. arXiv:1511.01206. Bibcode:2016ApJ...816...20L. doi:10.3847/0004-637X/816/1/20. ISSN 0004-637X. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F0004-637X%2F816%2F1%2F20 ↩

  19. Boyajian, T. S.; LaCourse, D. M.; Rappaport, S. A.; Fabrycky, D.; Fischer, D. A.; Gandolfi, D.; Kennedy, G. M.; Korhonen, H.; Liu, M. C. (27 January 2016). "Planet Hunters IX. KIC 8462852 – where's the flux?". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 457 (4): 3988–4004. arXiv:1509.03622. Bibcode:2016MNRAS.457.3988B. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw218. ISSN 0035-8711. S2CID 54859232. https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/457/4/3988/2589003?redirectedFrom=fulltext ↩

  20. "Mysterious Dimming of Tabby's Star May Be Caused by Dust". NASA/JPL. Retrieved 13 November 2018. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6963 ↩

  21. Boyajian, Tabetha S.; Alonso, Roi; Ammerman, Alex; Armstrong, David; Ramos, A. Asensio; Barkaoui, K.; Beatty, Thomas G.; Benkhaldoun, Z.; Benni, Paul (19 January 2018). "The First Post-Kepler Brightness Dips of KIC 8462852". The Astrophysical Journal. 853 (1): L8. arXiv:1801.00732. Bibcode:2018ApJ...853L...8B. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aaa405. ISSN 2041-8213. S2CID 215751718. https://doi.org/10.3847%2F2041-8213%2Faaa405 ↩

  22. Columbia University (16 September 2019). "New observations help explain the dimming of Tabby's Star". Phys.org. Retrieved 16 September 2019. /wiki/Columbia_University ↩

  23. Marinez, Miquel; Stone, Nicholas C.; Metzger, Brian D. (5 September 2019). "Orphaned Exomoons: Tidal Detachment and Evaporation Following an Exoplanet-Star Collision". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 489 (4): 5119–5135. arXiv:1906.08788. Bibcode:2019MNRAS.489.5119M. doi:10.1093/mnras/stz2464. S2CID 195316956. https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fmnras%2Fstz2464 ↩