astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

, a disrupted planet is a

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet was in 1992 around a pulsar, and the first detection around a main-sequence star was in 1995. A different planet, first det ...

or, perhaps on a somewhat smaller scale, a planetary-mass object,

planetesimal Planetesimals () are solid objects thought to exist in protoplanetary disks and debris disks. Believed to have formed in the Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago, they aid study of its formation. Formation A widely accepted theory of pla ...

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

, exomoon or

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

that has been disrupted or destroyed by a nearby or passing astronomical body or object such as a

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

. Necroplanetology is the related study of such a process. The result of such a disruption may be the production of excessive amounts of related gas,

dust Dust is made of particle size, fine particles of solid matter. On Earth, it generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil lifted by wind (an aeolian processes, aeolian process), Types of volcan ...

and debris, which may eventually surround the parent star in the form of a

circumstellar disk A Circumstellar disc (or circumstellar disk) is a torus, pancake or ring-shaped accretion disk of matter composed of gas, dust, planetesimals, asteroids, or collision fragments in orbit around a star. Around the youngest stars, they are the res ...

debris disk A debris disk (American English), or debris disc ( Commonwealth English), is a circumstellar disk of dust and debris in orbit around a star. Sometimes these disks contain prominent rings, as seen in the image of Fomalhaut on the right. Debris ...

. As a consequence, the orbiting debris field may be an " uneven ring of dust", causing erratic light fluctuations in the apparent

luminosity Luminosity is an absolute measure of radiated electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic energy per unit time, and is synonymous with the radiant power emitted by a light-emitting object. In astronomy, luminosity is the total amount of electroma ...

of the parent star, as may have been responsible for the oddly flickering

light curve In astronomy, a light curve is a graph (discrete mathematics), graph of the Radiance, light intensity of a celestial object or region as a function of time, typically with the magnitude (astronomy), magnitude of light received on the ''y''-axis ...

s associated with the starlight observed from certain

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes systematically with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are ...

s, such as that from Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852), RZ Piscium and WD 1145+017. Excessive amounts of

infrared radiation Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

may be detected from such stars, suggestive evidence in itself that dust and debris may be orbiting the stars.

Examples

Planets

Examples of planets, or their related remnants, considered to have been a disrupted planet, or part of such a planet, include: ‘Oumuamua and

WD 1145+017 b WD may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''The Walking Dead'' (TV series) * ''Watership Down'' * ''White Dwarf'' (magazine) Businesses and organizations Government agencies * Royal Canadian Air Force Women's Division * War Department ...

, as well as

hot Jupiter Hot Jupiters (sometimes called hot Saturns) are a class of gas giant exoplanets that are inferred to be physically similar to Jupiter (i.e. Jupiter analogue, Jupiter analogues) but that have very short orbital periods (). The close proximity to t ...

s and those that are hypothetical planets, like Fifth planet, Phaeton, Planet V and

Theia Theia (; , also rendered Thea or Thia), also called Euryphaessa (, "wide-shining"), is one of the twelve Titans, the children of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus in Greek mythology. She is the Greek goddess of sight and vision, an ...

. Planets can also be disrupted by black holes; one example involves a "Jupiter-like object" being subject to a

tidal disruption event A tidal disruption event (TDE) is a time-domain astronomy, transient astronomical source produced when a star passes so close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) that it is pulled apart by the black hole's tidal force. The star undergoes spaghett ...

by the supermassive black hole IGR J12580+0134, at the center of the galaxy NGC 4845.

Stars

Examples of parent stars considered to have disrupted a planet include: EPIC 204278916, Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852), PDS 110, RZ Piscium, WD 1145+017 and

47 Ursae Majoris 47 Ursae Majoris (abbreviated 47 UMa), formally named Chalawan , is a yellow dwarf star approximately 45.3 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Ursa Major. , three extrasolar planets (designated 47 Ursae Majoris b, c and d; ...

PIA22081-KIC8462852-TabbysStar-UnevenDustRing-Illustration-20171004

Tabby's Star light curve

Tabby's Star (KIC 8462852) is an F-type main-sequence star exhibiting unusual light fluctuations, including up to a 22% dimming in brightness. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain these irregular changes, but none to date fully explain all aspects of the curve. One explanation is that an " uneven ring of dust" orbits Tabby's Star. However, in September 2019, astronomers reported that the observed dimmings of Tabby's Star may have been produced by fragments resulting from the disruption of an orphaned exomoon. File:KIC 8462852 - gesamte Helligkeitsmessung von Kepler.png, All light curve data − December 2009 to May 2013, scan days 0066 to 1587 (''Kepler'') File:KIC 8462852 - Helligkeitseinbruch 05. März 2011.png, 5 March 2011 − day 792
15% max dip (''Kepler'') File:KIC 8462852 - Helligkeitseinbruch 28. Februar 2013.png, 28 February 2013 − day 1519
22% max dip (''Kepler'') File:KIC 8462852 - Helligkeitseinbruch 17. April 2013.png, 17 April 2013 − day 1568
8% max dip (''Kepler'') File:KIC 8462852 Daily Normalized Flux by Bruce Gary, 20170502-20180504.png, One year light curve −
up to 4 May 2018
( HAO – (as described by Rappaport et al, 201
link
) File:KIC 8462852 October-December 2019 Gary.jpg, Light curve between 10 October 2019 and 11 January 2020 (HAO)

References

External links

NASA – WD 1145+017 b
at The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. * , a presentation by Tabetha S. Boyajian. * , a presentation by Issac Arthur. * , star with unusual light fluctuations (21 December 2017). {{portal bar, Astronomy, Solar System, Space, Star Circumstellar disks Hypothetical astronomical objects Planetary rings Unsolved problems in astronomy