Asteroid vs. White Dwarf

What happens when an asteroid and a white dwarf (WD) meet? The asteroid doesn't get the better end of the deal — and the WD might end up with a brand new debris disk.Categories: Daily paper summariesTags: asteroid, disks, tidal disruption, tidal flare, white dwarf(Click to read more...)

• Title: Transient outburst events from tidally disrupted asteroids near white dwarfs
• Authors: Ealeal Bear, Noam Soker
• First Author’s Institution: Technion, Israel

What happens when an asteroid and a white dwarf (WD) meet?
I won’t try to charm you with a cute little metaphor about it being mealtime for the WD (truth be told, I’ve rather lost my taste for that particular metaphor after it recently took a rather gruesome turn). That said, the scenario is not unlike what occurs when a star encounters a black hole, as we have discussed in many previous astrobites — most recently Justin’s post yesterday.
And why should black holes get all the glory? WDs, too, have enough gravitational pull to tear apart a small astronomical body via tidal forces, effectively shredding it. So it’s only logical that the authors of this paper have looked to this option to explain the dusty disks we ...