Hubble spots a suspected second-generation planet around a white dwarf

Astronomers at the University of Warwick reanalyzed archival Hubble data and found niobium signatures in the white dwarf system HS 0209+0832, hinting at a gas giant formed from material shed by a dying star. If confirmed, it would be the first known second-generation planet. The study was published in Nature Astronomy.

• HS 0209+0832 is a white dwarf about 1% the Sun's radius and 60% its mass
• The candidate planet is a Jupiter-sized gas giant orbiting at roughly 6 million km
• Niobium in Hubble's spectrum points to material ejected when the star died
• Findings were confirmed with FUSE archival data and four months of TESS observations