X-ray & Optical Images of NGC 6388
Using Chandra and several other telescopes, researchers have found evidence that a white dwarf star - the dense core of a star like the Sun that has run out of nuclear fuel - may have ripped apart a planet as it came too close. This composite image provides one of the clues: Chandra shows that the X-rays are not coming from the cluster's center, as is evident when combined with visible light data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Instead, the details of the combined datasets point to a possible "tidal disruption" where one astronomical object destroys another through powerful gravitational forces.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/IASF Palermo/M.Del Santo et al; Optical: NASA/STScI)