Previously, that was thought to be impossible due to several factors

Mar 9, 2012 09:52 GMT  ·  By
This is a rendition of the planetary system surrounding the neutron star PSR B1257+12
   This is a rendition of the planetary system surrounding the neutron star PSR B1257+12

Astronomers are currently beginning to rethink their position on the possibility of life existing on extrasolar planets orbiting neutron stars. It could be that new planetary systems actually form around destroyed stellar objects, such as those that create the neutron star.

These structures form once a massive star explodes as a supernova. If the precursor does not have sufficient mass to turn into a black hole, then it usually forms a neutron star. Such an object condenses the mass of the Sun in the diameter of a large city.

For this reason, the density of materials making up such a star is extremely high. A single tablespoon of neutrons from this class of objects is estimated to weigh more than 100 trillion tons, or as much as an entire mountain does here on Earth.

Scientists are now focusing their attention on the neutron star affectionately called PSR B1257+12, which was discovered by Pennsylvania State University astronomy and astrophysics professor Alexander Wolszczan, back in 1991.

Radio signals from the star revealed the existence of a planetary system around it, even though the object emits very high amounts of X-rays, as well as stellar winds traveling at nearly the speed of light.

Astronomers have been wondering about how the planets were able to form around such an object from a protoplanetary disk. New research appears to suggest that the exoplanets orbited the star even before it went supernova, Daily Galaxy reports.

The three planets found around PSR B1257+12 are now believed to have been gas giants or rocky worlds located far away from the star, similar to how Neptune, Uranus and Pluto are from the Sun.

After the object exploded, and its core collapsed into a neutron star, these worlds changed their orbits accordingly, moving closer to the center of the system. The same thing will happen in our solar system as well, after the Sun turns into a helium-burning white dwarf.

What is even more interesting is that studies conducted with the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope have revealed the existence of a dust ring around the pulsar PSR J1846-0258. This could be evidence that such stellar objects may recreate the planetary systems they usually destroy as they form.