Oldest Brown Dwarf: Coolest And Oldest Objects In Galaxy Measured From Calar Alto Feb 17, 2009
One is a rather hot white dwarf, weighing. . (Science Daily)
DRIVING WHILE TYPING / Zone Defense Feb 8, 2009
It then bobbed to the surface, struck a mine, sank again, collapsed in on itself and became a white dwarf. Laughing in the wings and watching the whole fiasco was one of our largest competitors, who had a well-earned reputation for tight-fistedness. (Cohasset Mariner, MA)
Distant star's demise previews our sun's death Mar 28, 2008
Their target is a slowly cooling "white dwarf" star in the constellation Virgo that eventually will become a cold, black cinder ... "Someday the sun will be a white dwarf," said Judith Provencal, an astronomer at the University of Delaware in Newark ... "It's forming the white dwarf in its core right now.". (Anchorage Daily News)
THE HIPPEST HOP Mar 23, 2008
Dresser and Johnson named the 3-pound white dwarf hotot rabbit Roebling, after the architect of their favorite bridge, and began offering visitors to BklynBunny. com glimpses into Roebling's world via Web cam. (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Powerful Stellar Explosion: An Action Replay Mar 22, 2008
5 in the LMC, was a so-called Type Ia supernova, caused by a white dwarf star in a binary system that reaches a critical mass and explodes. In the new optical study, an estimate of the explosion's energy came from studying an echo of the original light of the explosion. (Science Daily)
Last Confessions Of A Dying Star Mar 5, 2008
The central star will then gradually cool down, eventually becoming a white dwarf, the final stage of evolution for nearly all stars. The Hubble picture of NGC 2371 is a false-color image, prepared from exposures taken through filters that detect light from sulfur and nitrogen (red), hydrogen (green), and oxygen (blue). (Science Daily)
> read more Feb 23, 2008
If such a feasting white dwarf grows heftier than 1 ... Because all white dwarfs have the same mass when they reach this tipping point, astrophysicists expect all Type Ia's (of a given subtype) to have the same luminosity ... But no one knows for sure whether Type Ia supernovas really arise from a white dwarf accreting matter slowly from a normal star. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Possible Progenitor Of Special Supernova Type Detected Feb 18, 2008
Astronomers generally agree that Type Ia supernovas are produced by the explosion of a white dwarf star in a binary star system ... Is the explosion caused by a collision between two white dwarfs, or because a white dwarf became unstable by pulling too much material off a companion star ... If the supernova explosion is caused by material being pulled off a companion star onto the white dwarf, fusion of this material on the surface of the star should heat the star and produce a strong source of... (Science Daily)
A mysterious dark energy fills the universe... Feb 13, 2008
These are created when a white dwarf star consumes matter from a neighbouring star until it reaches a certain critical mass and it suddenly explodes into a supernova. Because the mass of a star which becomes a Type 1a supernova is always the same, we know how bright the explosion which follows will be - and as well, the characteristic pattern of the dimming of this light. (FirstScience.com)
Dangers from secrets and lies Feb 5, 2008
Over time, small stars simply burn out and cool off, becoming what astronomers call white dwarfs ... I've found that these three questions can help determine whether a secret is a white dwarf or a black hole ... Moreover, a person who has some training and experience can give you an unbiased opinion about whether the secret is merely a white dwarf or a black hole. (CNN)
Look south to see winter's brightest constellations Feb 3, 2008
We now know that Sirius B (the Pup's formal name) is the nearest white dwarf star, and that these superdense objects are the common end stage of normal stars that have lived out their lives and used up their nuclear fuel. The sun, by the best modern calculations, will end up as a white dwarf 7. (Boston Globe)
Supernova Surprise: Black Holes May Pull Apart, Reignite White Dwarf Stars Feb 1, 2008
31, 2008) A strange and violent fate awaits a white dwarf star that wanders too close to a moderately massive black hole. According to a new study, the black hole's gravitational pull on the white dwarf would cause tidal forces sufficient to disrupt the stellar remnant and reignite nuclear burning in it, giving rise to a supernova explosion with an unusual appearance ... Ramirez-Ruiz and his collaborators--Stephan Rosswog of Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany, and William Hix of Oak Ridge... (Science Daily)
Dust strangely vaporized by stellar explosion Jan 29, 2008
Artist concept of the RS Ophiuchi binary system shortly after a white dwarf (right) has exploded as a nova ... Scientists recently observed the RS Ophiuchi system, where a small white dwarf star and large red giant ... The team suspects the dust is really produced when the white dwarf plows through the red giant's trail of debris, creating patches of gas where atoms are cool and dense enough to clump together into dust particles. (MSNBC -- Technology)
NASA-funded instrument nails nova Jan 29, 2008
The system, known as RS Ophiuchi, consists of a white dwarf and a red giant. The red giant is gradually shedding its massive gaseous outer layers, and the white dwarf is sweeping up much of this wind, growing in mass over time ... As the matter builds up on the white dwarfs surface it eventually reaches a critical temperature that ignites a thermonuclear explosion that causes the system to brighten 600-fold. (EurekAlert!)
Peter Dinklage big on dwarf role in 'Caspian' Jan 21, 2008
"Often, you get the hero and the villain and not much in between. Trumpkin is in between. He is not a lovable Snow White dwarf. Audiences appreciate these cynical characters. It helps parents and adults to go along with the journey.". As director Andrew Adamson says, "Trumpkin is a great acerbic, curmudgeonly character." After Disney production chief Oren Aviv looked at dailies last week, "He felt Peter was the heart and soul of the film.". (USA Today -- Life)
Stars stay young by eating planets Jan 21, 2008
According to a report in New Scientist , most stars eventually become white dwarfs, but along the way expand into red giants, while their cores shrink and undergo a short but intense phase of helium fusion ... Then, the star's exposed core never gets hot enough to fuse helium, so the resulting white dwarf is less massive and looks younger than it should for its age ... A group of white dwarfs with precisely those characteristics was observed three years ago in the star cluster NGC 6791. (India Times, India -- Health/Science)
Supernova Remnants Dance In The Large Magellanic Cloud Jan 16, 2008
This type of explosion is triggered by the infall of matter from a star onto a white dwarf. Since white dwarf stars are extremely old objects, the system must have been a few billion years old when this supernova explosion took place. (Science Daily)
Cosmic dust disc to force rethink Jan 15, 2008
The first is a type of dense, dead star known as a white dwarf; and the other is its low mass companion, a brown dwarf. Even though white dwarfs are only about the size of the Earth, they may have as much mass as the Sun, and that means they have a strong gravitational pull ... The white dwarf star in the WZ Sagittae system uses this pull to grab material from its companion at a rate of a trillion kg per second, which is enough to cause some spectacular events. (BBC News -- Science)
Week in Photos: Weird White Dwarf, WWII Bomb, and More Jan 5, 2008
Melbourne, , January 3, 2008 A protestor covered in fake blood lies at the center of a Japanese flag during an anti-whaling protest outside the Asian country's consulate. About 250 Animal Liberation Victoria (ALV) protestors demonstrated against Japan's plans to kill about. (National Geographic)
White Dwarf Pulses Like A Pulsar Jan 3, 2008
3, 2008) New observations from Suzaku, a joint Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NASA X-ray observatory, have challenged scientists conventional understanding of white dwarfs. Observers had believed white dwarfs were inert stellar corpses that slowly cool and fade away, but the new data tell a completely different story ... At least one white dwarf, known as AE Aquarii, emits pulses of high-energy (hard) X-rays as it whirls around on its axis. (Science Daily)
Top 10 space pictures of 2007 Dec 27, 2007
On Feb. 13 NASA released this shot of a dying stara white dwarf shown as a bright dot near the center of nebula NGC 2440that was once similar to our sun. (Photo: news. (Xinhuanet, China)
Heavens above, there's magic in the night Dec 27, 2007
Gleaming like a cosmic lighthouse, it is really two stars - including an Earth-sized "white dwarf" - that are pirouetting around each other. One of our cosmic neighbours, just nine light years distant, Sirius is another celestial sight that featured in the world of the ancient Egyptians. (Sydney Morning Herald -- World)
Odd Little Star Has Magnetic Personality Dec 7, 2007
19, 2007) Astronomers have discovered a rare binary system consisting of a white dwarf, a Sun-like star that has reached the end of its life, and an ultra-cool dwarf, which is the smallest kind of star ... 14, 2005) White dwarfs are important to theories of both stellar and cosmological evolution. (Science Daily)
Dead stars propelled like rockets Dec 5, 2007
Hubble Space Telescope images of white dwarfs in NGC 6397. Young white dwarfs were found far away from the center of the globular cluster, where they were expected to be found ... As white dwarfs form, they get a "kick" that propels them to speeds of thousands of miles per hour, new evidence from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows. (MSNBC -- Technology)
How White Dwarf Stars Get Their 'Kicks' Dec 5, 2007
Astronomers Discover How White Dwarf Stars Get Their 'Kicks ... Astronomers Discover How White Dwarf Stars Get Their 'Kicks ... 5, 2007) University of British Columbia astronomer Harvey Richer and UBC graduate student Saul Davis have discovered that white dwarf stars are born with a natal kick, explaining why these smoldering embers of Sun-like stars are found on the edge rather than at the centre of globular star clusters. (Science Daily)
Star with a carbon atmosphere Nov 23, 2007
As stars helium burns off, leaving behind ashes of carbon and oxygen, they usually turn to white dwarfs: a core of carbon and oxygen surrounded by an atmosphere of hydrogen or helium ... The discovery was made by researchers who were frantically trying to explain the weird data coming from some particularly hot white dwarfs ... Artists' concept of the surface of a carbon-atmosphere white dwarf star. (Nature News Service)
Eight white dwarfs break mould Nov 22, 2007
WASHINGTON Eight unusual examples of a burned-out celestial object known as a white dwarf detected in the Milky Way galaxy represent a previously unknown category of stars, astronomers said on Wednesday. White dwarfs mark the end point in stellar evolution for all but the most massive of stars in the universe, with about 97 per cent of stars, including the sun, destined to finish their existence this way, according to astronomers ... White dwarfs result from the collapse of star cores in dying... (Globe and Mail)
Another Way That Stars May Evolve Nov 22, 2007
21, 2007) Astronomers have discovered white dwarf stars with pure carbon atmospheres ... All but the most massive two or three percent of stars eventually die as white dwarfs rather than explode as supernovae ... When its nuclear fuel is exhausted, the star then dies as a white dwarf, which is an extremely dense object that packs the mass of our sun into an object about the size of Earth. (Science Daily)
When Stars Collide Nov 8, 2007
In this NASA illustration, a close pair of orbiting white dwarf stars throw off spiral waves of gravitational radiation ... Its strongest signature was for carbon, one of the main constituents of a white dwarf's outer shell ... For these reasons, Malcolm Hicken (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and his colleagues suspect that the explosion was caused by the collision of two white dwarfs. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Colliding Dead Stars Set Off Massive Supernova Nov 6, 2007
The blast offers some of the strongest evidence yet for a theoretical model for supernovas created by white dwarfs the hot cores left behind when stars similar to our sun die ... Most white dwarf supernovas are believed to occur when the tiny dead stars siphon so much material from a larger, nearby star that they trigger a massive fusion reaction and explode ... The same explosion could also occur, however, if two white dwarfs merged, said Malcolm Hicken, an astrophysicist at the... (National Geographic)
Dead stars collide, explode Nov 3, 2007
Two white dwarf stars slowly spiraled into each other to touch off a supernova explosion called SN 2006gz and discovered last year in a spiral galaxy some 300 million light-years from Earth, said the study's lead author Malcolm Hicken. "This finding shows that nature maybe richer than we suspected, with more than one way to make a white dwarf explode," said Hicken, a graduate student at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics ... A white dwarf is the remains of a star with too little... (USA Today -- Tech)
Dead stars collide, explode in deep space Nov 2, 2007
Supernova explosion was result of two slowly spiraling white dwarf stars. Supernova 2006gz, marked in this photo, shows the strongest evidence yet that it was caused by the merger of two white dwarfs ... Two white dwarf stars slowly spiraled into each other to touch off a called SN 2006gz and discovered last year in a spiral galaxy some 300 million light-years from Earth, said the study's lead author Malcolm Hicken. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Into The Chrysalis: VLT Interferometer Detects Disc Around Aged Star Oct 3, 2007
In the last phases of their life, stars such as our Sun evolve from a red giant which would engulf the orbit of Mars to a white dwarf, an object that is barely larger than the Earth. The transition is accomplished by the shedding of a huge envelope of gas and dust that sparkles in many colours, producing a most spectacular object: a planetary nebula. (Science Daily)
Oldest Planet Yet Discovered Hints Earth May Survive Our Sun Becoming A Red Giant Sep 28, 2007
"The Peg V391 star unlike our sun, has already passed the "red giant" stage of its life. It is presently shrinking, on its way to becoming a "white dwarf" and dying," he explains. "Because a planet associated with Peg V391 has now been found, for the first time astronomers will be able to study the effect a dying sun has on its planet. This will help draw conclusions about what will happen to planet Earth when our sun starts dying in about 5 billion years.". (Science Daily)
Reading the planetary tea leaves Sep 23, 2007
It is presently shrinking, on its way to becoming a white dwarf and dying, he explains. Because a planet associated with Peg V391 has now been found, for the first time astronomers will be able to study the effect a dying sun has on its planet. (EurekAlert!)
Planet Survivor Sep 17, 2007
Eventually, V391 Pegasi will become a small, dense, burned-out object called a white dwarf ... When the sun turns from red giant to white dwarf, however, the transition will probably be brighter and hotter; making it more likely that Earth will get caught up in the explosion. (Science News for Kids)
NASA Astronomers Find Bizarre Planet-mass Object Orbiting Neutron Star Sep 14, 2007
"It s essentially a white dwarf that has been whittled down to a planetary mass.". After billions of years, little remains of the companion star, and it remains unclear whether it will survive. (Science Daily)
Planet survives stellar explosion Sep 13, 2007
Burleigh is looking for planets around white dwarfs stars further on still in their evolution than red giants, and Silvotti's research gives Burleigh hope that he will be successful. "This work suggests that planets should be there around white dwarfs," he says ... Our Sun is expected to go through the red giant stage to a white dwarf rather than a hot subdwarf, for example. (Nature News Service)
EARTH MAY SURVIVE SUN'S DEMISE IN 5 BILLION YEARS... Sep 13, 2007
It will eventually sigh off another shell of gas and settle into eternal senescence as a white dwarf. Meanwhile, the stars pulsations cause it to brighten and dim every 6 minutes. (The Drudge Report)
Stellar Firework In A Whirlwind Sep 6, 2007
If the vampire star is a white dwarf a burned-out star that was once like our Sun this greed can lead to a cosmic catastrophe: the white dwarf explodes as a Type Ia supernova ... They are currently interpreted as the disruption of small, compact stars, called white dwarfs, which acquire matter from a companion star ... A white dwarf represents the penultimate stage of a solar-type star. (Science Daily)
Understand Pulsars; Neutron Stars Aug 30, 2007
Like a white dwarf, which will be the ultimate fate or our own sun, the smaller a neutron star the more it weighs. They can range in age from ten thousand years to the oldest known object being ten billion years old. (Suite101.com)
Supernovas hold secrets of the universe Aug 29, 2007
Type occur when a type of star known as a white dwarf reaches a critical mass and ignites carbon fusion near its center. The nuclear explosion spreads through the star in about one second and blasts the star's contents apart. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Shrinking giants, exploding dwarves Aug 28, 2007
When white dwarf stars explode, they leave behind a rapidly expanding cloud of 'stardust' known as a Type Ia supernova ... Astronomers have now for the first time ever provided a unique set of observations obtained with the ESO Very Large Telescope in Chile and the 10-meter Keck telescope in Hawaii, enabling them to find traces of the material that had surrounded a white dwarf star before it exploded ... These observations support a widely accepted model proposing that a white dwarf star... (EurekAlert!)
A Star's "Chemical Fingerprint" Aug 23, 2007
Scientists observing GD 362, the white dwarf star in question, say an asteroid recently "contaminated" the atmosphere of the star ... By analyzing the chemical makeup of the atmosphere of the white dwarf, which now has elements of the asteroid in it, researchers were able to determine that the composition of the star system was very similar to the inner planets of Earth's solar system. (SkyAndTelescope.com)
Dead Star Found Polluted By Earthlike Planet Aug 20, 2007
August 18, 2007 - Astronomers have found a burned out white dwarf star with the remants of an Earthlike planet orbiting it ... The white dwarf star surrounded by planetary remains is called GD 362, and it's located about 150 light-years from Earth ... During their observations, astronomers from UCLA captured the distinct signature of a rocky asteroid interacting with the white dwarf. (International Reporter)
Planets like earth may have formed around other stars: UCLA report Aug 19, 2007
Washington, Aug.18 (ANI): Astronomers from the University of California- Los Angeles (UCLA) have, after studying the chemical fingerprint of a burned-out white dwarf star GD 362, claimed the existence of Earth-like planets in other parts of the universe. They believe that this discovery could give clues to what our solar system will look like when the sun becomes a white dwarf star some five billion years from now ... UCLA astronomers think that after about a billion years orbiting the white... (South Asian Women's Forum)
Hurtling star possesses comet-like tail Aug 19, 2007
" Astronomers say Mira's tail offers a unique opportunity to study how stars like our sun die and ultimately seed new solar systems. As Mira hurls along, its tail drops off carbon, oxygen and other important elements needed for new stars, planets and possibly even life to form. This tail material, visible now for the first time, has been shed over the past 30,000 years. Billions of years ago, Mira was like our sun. Over time, it began to swell into what's called a variable red giant a... (Carnegie Institution)
Polluted Dead Star Indicates Planets Like Earth May Have Formed Around Other Stars Aug 18, 2007
The chemical fingerprint of a burned-out star indicates that Earth-like planets may not be rare in the universe and could give clues to what our solar system will look like when our sun dies and becomes a white dwarf star some five billion years from now. Artist's visualization of a dust disk around the white dwarf GD 362 ... This new research implies that the forces that made the Earth and our inner solar system seem to have occurred in this system as well, and probably around other white... (Science Daily)
Star harbors signs of Earth-like planets Aug 18, 2007
White dwarf harbors signs of Earth-like planets - CNN.com ... White dwarf harbors signs of Earth-like planets ... The white dwarf, named GD 362, similar to our sun. (CNN)
NASA's information on spectacular Mira A Aug 17, 2007
The nebula will fade with time, leaving only the burnt-out core of the original star, which will then be called a white dwarf ... Racing along with Mira is a small, distant companion thought to be a white dwarf. (USA Today -- Tech)
Dying star could be laying seeds for planets Aug 17, 2007
Mira is a 'red giant' star that is near the end of its life that will eventually fade to becoming a white dwarf. Astronomers believe that in four or five billion years, the sun, which used to be very similar to Mira, will also swell up to become a red giant when it begins to run out of fuel and struggle with gravity, which could mean Earth-moving consequences for humans. (CTV.ca)
Speeding Star: Johnny Appleseed Of The Cosmos Aug 17, 2007
It has a distant companion star called Mira B that is thought to be the burnt-out, dead core of a star, called a white dwarf. Mira A and B circle around each other slowly, making one orbit about every 500 years. (Science Daily)
Astronomers find bizarre comet-like tail behind star Aug 17, 2007
One star in the pair, called Mira A, is a bloated, aging red giant that sheds large amounts of gas and dust into space, while the other, Mira B, is a dense stellar corpse called a white dwarf ... But stars such as Mira A, which start out with a few times the mass of the Sun, avoid this fate by shedding most of their mass in stellar winds to become placid white dwarfs. (Xinhuanet, China)
Star unlike any seen before has comet-like tail Aug 16, 2007
This too will fade in time, and Mira A will shrivel into a burnt-out white dwarf. a project of NASA also spotted a buildup of hot gas, called a bow shock, in front of the star, as well as two thin filaments of material coming out of the star's front and back. (USA Today)
Cosmic tail stretches out from speeding star Aug 16, 2007
Traveling alongside Mira A is another star, either a white dwarf or a smaller version of our sun, called Mira B. ... This too will fade in time, and Mira A will shrivel into a burnt-out white dwarf. (MSNBC -- Technology)
Astronomers surprised by star with comet-like tail Aug 16, 2007
Unlike our solitary sun, Mira is a so-called binary star traveling through space orbiting a companion believed to be the burnt-out, dead core of a star, known as a white dwarf. Scientists think Mira in time will eject all its gas, leaving a colorful shell known as a planetary nebula that also gradually will fade leaving behind a white dwarf. (The Star Online, Malaysia -- News)
Star light, star bright: FSU facility duplicating conditions of supernovas Aug 15, 2007
"Type Ia supernovas result when a certain type of star known as a white dwarf reaches a critical mass and burns through its nuclear fuel so quickly that it suddenly explodes," Wiedenhover said. "What makes these explosions so useful for astrophysicists is that they always release the same amount of energy, so their peak brightness is virtually the same in all instances. This uniform level of brightness makes Type Ia supernovas useful as a 'standard candle' -- a gauge for measuring distances... (EurekAlert!)
Andromeda the Milky Way versus Sol Aug 7, 2007
It will end its life as a Dead White Dwarf Star. But this second half of the sun s life is quite important for life on Earth. (Suite101.com)
Newfound planet has Earth-like orbit Aug 3, 2007
It casts off its outer gas layers, leaving behind a compact stellar corpse called a white dwarf, which will smolder until all its remaining heat is radiated away. Copyright 2007, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.. (USA Today -- Tech)
Dwarf Star Gulps Giant To Form Supernova Jul 16, 2007
The evidence strongly supports the scenario in which the explosion occurred in a double-star system where a white dwarf is fed by a red giant ... In the most widely accepted models of type Ia supernovae, the pre-explosion white dwarf star interacts with a much larger companion star ... Because of the proximity of the two stars and the strong gravitational attraction produced by the very compact white dwarf, the companion star continuously loses mass, "feeding" the white dwarf. (Science Daily)
Pulsing red giant glimpses at Sun's future Jul 4, 2007
"We also hope to explain how a planetary nebula forms from a red giant near the end of its life as a white dwarf star.". Copyright 2007, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.. (USA Today -- Tech)
Rare Star Explosion Follows A Flash Of Light Jun 20, 2007
The type I category refers to the disintegration of a small, compact star, known as a white dwarf, which has been made unstable by the accumulation of matter coming from a companion. The type II category, on the other hand, refers to the explosion of a massive star. (Science Daily)
Origin of the Chemical Elements Jun 12, 2007
Their carbon and oxygen is trapped when the star collapses into a white dwarf. More massive stars play a more significant role because their greater mass can compress the core enough to fuse heavier elements. (Suite101.com)
The Crab Nebula Supernova 1054 AD Jun 11, 2007
Only involving the surface layers of a white dwarf star, novae are less violent explosions than supernovae. The Crab Nebula is the remnant of the supernova that the Chinese observed on July 4, 1054. (Suite101.com)
Chronicle Of A Star's Death Foretold Jun 5, 2007
In this image the star S Ori is centred on the Sun's position: the Sun itself in 5 billion years will evolve to this stage before cooling down as a white dwarf ... It is a solar-mass star that, as will be the fate of our Sun in 5 billion years, is nearing its gloomy end as a white dwarf. (Science Daily)
