Astronomers observed the variable star RZ Piscium and discovered that it orbits a compact, broken debris disk. The research results have been published on the preprint server arXiv. RZ Piscium (RZ Psc) is a variable star of type UX Orionis, located about 600 light-years away in the constellation Pisces, estimated to be between 30 and 50 million years old. The star is known to have exhibited a sudden and irregular decrease in its optical emission curve over the past five decades, indicating a significant mass of gas and dust orbiting it. Previous observations have shown that RZ Piscium contains a circumstellar dust disk and a red dwarf star (about 0.12 solar masses) at an estimated distance of 22 astronomical units. The disk orbits the primary star, but the secondary star can have a significant influence on the disk itself, deforming it, for example, by cutting off the outer edge of the disk and violently mixing the planetesimals remaining.

Source: https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2310.12336