A Flickering Fragment of a Dead System
When a star like the Sun ages, it swells and sheds its outer layers. What remains is a small, dense white dwarf — the former core. Around it, planetary debris can remain: rocks, dust, even whole asteroids. They orbit like a carousel that's been taken apart, but the pieces are still spinning.
Astronomers watched the white dwarf WD 1054-226 for six years.