Artist rendering of the dust-encircled white dwarf star J0207

Artist rendering of the dust-encircled white dwarf star J0207 showing possible details of its mysterious multi-component disk. A volunteer from the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project brought this surprising discovery to the attention of professional researchers. J0207 is now the oldest and coldest white dwarf known to harbor warm dust, challenging astronomers to reimagine scenarios for the long-term evolution of planetary systems.