An Earthlike planet may be orbiting in a dead star’s ‘habitable zone’

Planetary debris, including some objects the size of moons, may hint at a rocky exoplanet within the habitable zone of a stellar zombie, a new study suggests.

The star in question is a white dwarf called WD1054–226, a cooling remnant of a star that exhausted all fuel at its core. If an exoplanet is confirmed in the system, it would be a breakthrough for white dwarf science, the researchers noted in a statement. Only one other planet has been discovered to date orbiting a white dwarf. That planet, however, is a gas giant, a planet similar to Jupiter, and not near the habitable zone (usually defined as where liquid water may exist on the surface of a rocky planet).