Scientists have discovered a white dwarf star, the surviving heated core of a dead star identical to the sun, some 90 light-years distant, surrounded by a graveyard of broken off chunks of planets called planetesimals.
White dwarf WDJ2147-4035 and its solar system developed and disintegrated before the sun and Earth were born
Planet remnants around WDJ2147-4035 are the earliest planetesimals yet discovered in our galaxy around a white dwarf, as pointed out by Elms.
This white dwarf was found with another of a similar age by the Gaia space observatory.
After locating these white dwarfs, the team used an equipment in Chile called the "X-Shooter" to determine the composition of the stars' atmospheres.
Chemicals including lithium, potassium, and sodium were discovered to have accreted around the old star WDJ2147-4035
Since white dwarfs only consist of hydrogen and helium, the researchers reasoned that the planetary remnants' stony components must have provided the rarer elements.
Our sun will engulf Mercury, Venus, and maybe Earth as it becomes larger and eventually sheds its outer layers.