Hubble image archive

Artist's View of Watery Asteroid in White Dwarf Star System GD 61

This is an artist's impression of a rocky and water-rich asteroid being torn apart by the strong gravity of the white dwarf star GD 61. Similar objects in our solar system likely delivered the bulk of water on Earth and represent the building blocks of the terrestrial planets. C...

Date
Jan 1, 2013
Mission
Hubble Space Telescope
Archive ID
hubblesite-images-2013-38-3241-image
By

This is an artist's impression of a rocky and water-rich asteroid being torn apart by the strong gravity of the white dwarf star GD 61. Similar objects in our solar system likely delivered the bulk of water on Earth and represent the building blocks of the terrestrial planets.

Credits

Artwork: NASA, ESA, M.A. Garlick (space-art.co.uk), University of Warwick, and University of Cambridge;
Science: NASA, ESA, J. Farihi (University of Cambridge), B. Gänsicke (University of Warwick), and D. Koester (University of Kiel)

Image Details

About The Object
Object NameGD 61, WD 0435+410
Object DescriptionArtist impression of White Dwarf Star System
R.A. Position04h 38m 39s.39
Dec. Position+41° 09' 32".51
ConstellationPerseus
Distance150 light-years (50 parsecs)
About The Data
Data DescriptionThe image was created from Hubble data from proposal : B. Gänsicke (University of Warwick), D. Koester (University of Kiel), J. Farihi (University of Cambridge), and J. Girven (University of Warwick). The science team includes: J. Farihi (University of Cambridge), B. Gänsicke (University of Warwick), and D. Koester (University of Kiel).
InstrumentHST > COS
Exposure DatesJanuary 28, 2012
FiltersGratings: G130M

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Source

Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.

View on NASA.gov

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