Astronomers have 'ignored' the first evidence of this planet

Evidence of exoplanets appeared in 1917, but astronomers were unaware, even claiming that exoplanets appeared in the 1990s.

Van Maanen 2 is the closest white dwarf to Earth, about 14 light-years from Earth, discovered in 1917 by Dutch astronomer Adriaan van Maanen. Perhaps it is the first evidence of an exoplanet .

Illustration of white dwarf.

However, astronomers did not know it, and argued that the evidence of the "exoplanet" was discovered in 1992 by the Kepler space telescope.

Last year, Professor Jay Farihi of the University of London (UK) contacted the Carnegie Observatory (USA) to ask about the glass containing the spectral image of star Van Maanen 2.

The spectral image is a record of the star's light emitted. The image on the spectrophotometer shows all the components of light, like the color of a rainbow when viewed through a prism.

Spectral image of 1917 about why van Maanen 2 from Carnegie Observatory's archives.

At the same time, they also help astronomers know how light emitted by a star is affected by star chemistry before sending it to Earth.

Moreover, every sign on the glass plate is very normal, except, why Van Maanen 2 seems warmer than our Sun.

However, when Farihi examined the spectrum, he found something quite unusual about the "absorption curve" on the spectrum.

The absorption pathways are the lines that show the chemical composition of light. In the star spectral film van Maanene 2, there are the occurrence of heavy elements such as calcium, magnesium, and iron.

These elements need a relatively long time to "hide" inside the star due to their mass.

Images of debris were discovered around two white dwarfs.

"Our surprise discovery of the 1917 spectral image was the earliest documented evidence of a polluted white dwarf system , " said astronomer John Mulchaey of Carnegie Observatory. .

In recent years, astronomers have discovered many white dwarfs with similar spectral images and pointed out that heavy elements are caused by asteroids falling on the surface of these stars. .

At the same time, it shows that all of these white dwarfs are orbiting a large planet and an asteroid belt.

Sadly, scientists have missed this proof for nearly 100 years!

Mulchaey spoke to the press:

"With a huge archive of documents from Carnegie Observatory, about 250,000 spectral films from three different observatories - Mount Wilson, Palomar, and Las Campanas, promise a lot of new discoveries in the future. hybrid thanks to this rich resource ".