Dead Stars Tell Story of Planet Birth

[james_davis_nicoll]

PASADENA, Calif. -- Astronomers have turned to an unexpected place to study the evolution of planets -- dead stars.

Observations made with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal six dead "white dwarf" stars littered with the remains of shredded asteroids. This might sound pretty bleak, but it turns out the chewed-up asteroids are teaching astronomers about the building materials of planets around other stars.