A brand-new X-ray take a look at the enchanting Helix Nebula exposes a supposed world killer: a white dwarf that may be the source of weird emissions from the nebula.

The Helix Nebula, likewise referred to as Caldwell 63, is 650 light-years from Earth, according to NASAIt’s the remains of a passing away star, which is slowly shedding its external gas layers into the surrounding area. Excellent radiation triggers the gas to radiance like a huge ring, which extends about 3 light-years throughout, according to NASA observations.

Now, a make over at the nebula integrates X-ray emissions discovered by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, noticeable light seen by the Hubble Space Telescope, infrared light discovered by the European Southern Observatory’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, and ultraviolet light identified by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer area telescope.

This broad-spectrum view exposed the residues of the passing away white dwarf star that produced the nebula, and shows that this passing away star might have demolished an orbiting world that flew too near its passing away sun. Tidal forces from the white dwarf appear to have actually ripped the close-by world to shreds and after that pulled its remaining pieces onto the white dwarf’s surface area, activating effective X-ray flares.

Related: 25 stunning nebula pictures that catch the charm of deep space

Our own sun will likewise pass away as a white dwarfwhich is the last for medium-mass stars that lack fuel. White overshadows slowly dim and cool till they wink out of presence entirely. In the Helix Nebula, the star ejects hot gas into area, which gas cools and falls back towards the star. Tendrils of hot gas and older cooling gas collide and produce elaborate, knot-like patterns that look a bit like comets.

In December 2024, a research study group led by Sandino Estrada-Doradoan astrophysicist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, reported in the journal Month-to-month Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society that inexplicable X-ray emissions from the nebula are most likely the outcome of product from a “substellar donor companion” falling under the passing away star. Substeller things do not go through hydrogen blend, as occurs in stars. They consist of brown overshadows (or “failed stars”previous stars and worlds.

If the white dwarf at the center did consume a world, it has something else in typical with Earth’s sun. By the time the sun reaches the white dwarf phase, it will have gone through a red huge stage, swelling in size and engulfing our world (and those closer to it). Fortunately for us, this will not take place till 5 billion years from nowwhen the sun starts to run low on fuel.

Editor’s note: This short article was upgraded on April 4 to remedy a typo. Caldwell 63 is 650 light-years from Earth, not 650 million as formerly composed.

Stephanie Pappas is a contributing author for Live Science, covering subjects varying from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and habits. She was formerly a senior author for Live Science however is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and routinely adds to Scientific American and The Monitor, the regular monthly publication of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie got a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science interaction from the University of California, Santa Cruz.