A Gas Giant Planet Around A White Dwarf Star. 2 Inch Square Button

This artist's concept shows a hypothetical rejuvenated planet. A gas giant that has reclaimed its youthful infrared glow. Spitzer Space Telescope found tentative evidence for one such planet around a dead star, or white dwarf, called PG 0010+280 (depicted as white dot in illustration). The theory goes that this Jupiter-like planet, which orbits far from its star, would accumulate some of the material sloughed off by its star as the star was dying. The material would cause the planet to swell in mass. As the material fell onto the planet, it would heat up due to friction and glow with infrared light.