A nebula's mysterious glow is fueled by a giant busted planet

A nebula's mysterious glow is fueled by a giant busted planet

A never-ending, X-ray explosion coming from a dead star has posed a mystery — until now. This steady radiation appears to come from scorching-hot wreckage left behind by the annihilation of a giant planet. The discovery stems from four decades of X-ray observations of the Helix Nebula. It lies some 650 light-years from Earth. The stream of X-rays has remained constant for at least 20 years. Now, scientists suggest a convincing explanation for wh…