DESI Study Finds 12 Destroyed Exoplanets Match Inner Solar System Chemistry
Updated
Updated · Tech Times · Aug 3
DESI Study Finds 12 Destroyed Exoplanets Match Inner Solar System Chemistry
3 articles · Updated · Tech Times · Aug 3
Summary
Twelve metal-polluted white dwarfs in DESI’s first full data release yielded evidence that the rocky bodies they consumed were chemically similar to Earth’s inner solar system; two appear to have been water-rich.
DESI captured the spectra during bright moonlight and twilight, when its main dark-energy survey pauses, and its 3,600-9,828 angstrom coverage let researchers measure key rock-forming elements in a single exposure.
The team detected 3 to 10 heavy elements per target, then modeled how those elements sink in white-dwarf atmospheres to reconstruct the original debris, finding dry chondritic material, differentiated rocky bodies and water-bearing planetesimals.
The result matters because more than 1,750 polluted white dwarfs are known, but only 86 worldwide have previously shown enough metals for detailed composition work; DESI’s archive could raise that sample to hundreds.
Researchers plan higher-resolution follow-up on the most chemically interesting systems, while the growing dataset could test whether Earth-like rocky planet chemistry is common around Sun-like stars.