NEWS IN BRIEF

Disc-less dwarfs

The dusty ring of debris found around white dwarf stars only appears after 10–20 million years, according to a recent study. When the dwarfs first appear, after a Sun-like star goes through its red giant phase, they are so hot they vaporise the surrounding debris, preventing a disc from forming.

500 radio bursts

The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) detected 535 fast radio bursts in its first year of operations. Before CHIME, only 140 of the mysterious bursts – which last only a fraction of a second – had been detected since their discovery in 2007.

Colossal comet

An impressive 100km-wide comet, believed to have originated in the distant Oort cloud, was spotted creeping into the inner Solar System in June. Comet C/2014 UN271 is currently 20 times the Earth–Sun distance away, and will make its closest approach in 2031, passing just beyond the orbit of Saturn.