Signposts of Remnant Planetary Systems
In June 2024, a manuscript led by graduate student and BUWD member Joseph Guidry (Guidry, Hermes, De et al. 2024) took a look at infrared variability of white dwarfs as seen over many years from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope, discovering dozens of new infrared-variable white dwarfs that are likely to be host to remnant planetary systems. Some white dwarfs with planetary systems host dusty debris that causes an infrared excess, and collisions within the debris disks often cause infrared variability. The manuscript has been accepted in The Astrophysical Journal.