Astronomers in Armagh have spotted a star with a dark metallic ‘scar’ on the surface which they attribute to the fact that this white dwarf ‘ate’ the surrounding planets and asteroids that were born at the same time as it.

The metallic scar found on the surface of the dead star is a finding that scientists have never seen before, said astronomer John Landstreet.

The star was discovered at the astronomical research center at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium in Northern Ireland.

The scar, believed to be 500 kilometers long, was discovered in the remnant of an Earth-sized star from a nearby solar system. The system no longer generates energy in its core, so the star is dead.

The white dwarf star was named WD 0816-310 by the research astronomers.

The research found that the scar developed after the white dwarf swallowed the surrounding planets and asteroids that were born at the same time as it, causing a build-up of metals that pockmark the surface of the stars.

Dr Landstreet, a co-author of the research paper, is part of the team that discovered the first white dwarf to have a magnetic field, in 1970. Surprisingly, the material is not evenly mixed on the star’s surface as theory predicts,” he said. “Instead, this scar is a condensed piece of planetary material, held in place by the same magnetic field that had driven the planetary debris to its surface. We’ve never seen anything like it before.”