# Two debris rings from destroyed planets found around white dwarf J1328-1450

- Published: 2026-11-14 06:49 UTC
- Section: Sky & Space › Astronomy
- Tags: white dwarf J1328-1450, zombie planets, debris rings, destroyed planets, Nature Astronomy, double debris disc, red giant, Solar System future, Nicola Gentile Fusillo
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-f6936a9ab9dfc6ff35bf7d06_two_debris_rings/

**Astronomers report in Nature Astronomy two debris rings with a gap between them around white dwarf J1328-1450, 1600 light-years from Earth, rather than a single ring.**

![Two debris rings from destroyed planets found around white dwarf J1328-1450](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/568604ccdf5504db.jpg)
*pravda.ru*

Astronomers have described an unusual system around the white dwarf J1328-1450, located 1600 light-years from Earth, according to pravda.ru. The study was published in Nature Astronomy. Around the star the researchers found two rings of debris with a noticeable gap between them [1].

The term "zombie planets" refers to bodies that, it would seem, should have disappeared long ago [1].

## What was found around the star

A white dwarf is what a Sun-sized star turns into when its fuel runs out. Before that, the star becomes a red giant, swells and engulfs everything nearby [1]. Debris discs around white dwarfs had been found before, but they always looked like a uniform flat ring [1]. The double structure at J1328-1450 shows, according to the authors, that planetary systems can keep a complex arrangement even after their star dies [1].

The analysis showed that the debris is left over from destroyed planets whose composition is close to Earth's: calcium, oxygen, magnesium and iron. The fragments differ in size: one is comparable to an ordinary asteroid, the other is close in scale to the Moon or Pluto [1].

## What it says about the Solar System

Study leader Nicola Gentile Fusillo of the University of Trieste called it the first example of a system with a double disc and potentially two surviving planetary bodies [1]. According to the scientists, these remnants are witnesses to how planets resisted complete destruction when their star began to expand [1].

The difference in chemical composition between the inner and outer rings indicates that the destroyed worlds were quite different in nature. In the researchers' view, this gives a key to the processes that take place at the very end of the life cycle of stellar systems [1].

The source compares the finding with the fate of the Sun. In about 5 billion years the Sun will exhaust its hydrogen, become a red giant and will probably engulf the inner planets, including Earth. Studying J1328-1450 helps researchers understand what will remain of the planets after the Sun becomes a white dwarf [1].

## Sources

1. [pravda.ru](https://www.pravda.ru/news/science/2442357-zombie-planets-discovery)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-f6936a9ab9dfc6ff35bf7d06_two_debris_rings/