News in Brief Astronomy

Water seen in rubble around star

Debris was part of an asteroid that held the ingredients for habitable planets

PLANET BUILDER  The immense gravity of a white dwarf star, GD 61, shattered a water-laden asteroid (shown in an artist’s conception) into a cloud of debris.

© Mark A. Garlick, space-art.co.uk, Univ. of Warwick and Univ. of Cambridge

By Meghan Rosen

- More than 2 years ago

For the first time, astronomers have discovered the watery building blocks of Earthlike planets whirling around a star outside our solar system.