Artwork showing an asteroid breaking up under the gravitational influence of a nearby white dwarf star. In looking at debris discs around nearby stars, a group of astronomers has found the presence of water ice. They conclude that this represents the pulverised remains of an asteroid, made up of about 25% water, which strayed too close to its white dwarf star and was torn apart by tidal forces. This artwork imagines the asteroid with a thin rocky crust, with bright ice hidden just beneath the surface, revealed as the asteroid breaks up.