Recent research using the Hubble Space Telescope has measured the mass of a lone whitedwarf for the first time.
In billions of years’ time, after our sun has burned through all of its fuel and puffed up to be a red giant, it will eventually shrink and cool until all that remains is the dense core of the former star, called a white dwarf. This is what will eventually happen to most stars, so white dwarfs are common in the universe.
In order to measure the mass of a white dwarf called LAWD 37, astronomers took advantage of a phenomenon called gravitational microlensing. This is where the white dwarf passed in front of a background star, and the background star’s light was temporarily bent by the white dwarf’s gravity. The amount of bending could be used to work out the white dwarf’s mass.
The researchers were able to determine that LAWD 37 is 56% the mass of our sun, which is comparable to theoretical predictions of white dwarf mass. Having such an accurate measurement of its mass can also help researchers understand more about the structure and composition of these objects.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Hubble Space Telescope captures chaotic globular cluster near Milky Way's coreThe globular cluster NGC 6355 is located in the inner region of the Milky Way 31,000 light-years from Earth.
Read more »
Marathon Digital Sells Mined Bitcoin for First Time to Monetize Recent RallyBitcoin miner MarathonDH sells some of its mined bitcoin for the first time to pay for its operating costs. By Aoyon_A
Read more »
This James Webb Space Telescope image shows spiral galaxy in stunning detailRobert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter sciencef1rst.
Read more »
Watch February's Full Snow Moon on Sunday (Feb. 5) with this free telescope webcastThe Full Snow Moon will be joined by a few guests this year.
Read more »
Webb telescope image captures stunning spiral galaxy over a billion light-years awayA new image from the James Webb Space Telescope captured a large spiral galaxy located over a billion light-years from Earth, as well as additional smaller galaxies.
Read more »
Neil deGrasse Tyson says James Webb Space Telescope is window to universe 'never before achieved'Neil deGrasse Tyson said that the James Webb Space Telescope has given scientists new abilities, including a means to look at the universe in a new way.
Read more »