Scientists find planet made on new matter recipe, and it formed after a Red Giant ate a solar system
Astronomers have identified a rare second-generation planet orbiting a white dwarf star that contains heavy elements like niobium. This discovery suggests that planets can form from the debris of a dying star's solar system.
Why it matters
This finding challenges existing models of planetary formation and provides new insights into the life cycles of solar systems.
Death of a star may not be game over for the inner solar system after all
Simon Sharwood Simon Sharwood APAC Editor Published tue 6 Oct 2026 // 06:25 UTC
Or maybe not, according to a paper published on Monday titled “Discovery of a second-generation planet candidate accreting onto a white dwarf.”
As explained by NASA’s Hubble Mission team, the paper’s authors pored over Hubble Space Telescope observations of white dwarf star HS 0209+0832 from 1999. According to the paper, data from those scans “revealed the presence of carbon, aluminum, silicon, calcium, titanium, nickel and zinc in the atmosphere, as well as ~100 lines that could not be identified.”
The authors of this paper used new techniques to identify the mystery matter, and concluded that there’s plenty of the element niobium present in what looks like a gas giant orbiting HS 0209+0832.
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