Astronomers may have finally solved the mystery of how superdense dead stars called white dwarfs keep their heavy metal shells fresh — by cannibalizing what remains of their planetary systems.
Our sun is destined to turn into a white dwarf in around five billion years, after it runs out of the hydrogen that fuels nuclear fusion at its core. The new research therefore may give us a hint about what could happen to the rest of the solar system after this transformation has taken place.
