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In 2021, ZTF data revealed a rotating white dwarf that rotates on its axis once every 7 minutes. scientists (including Kevin Barnes) used ZTF data to reveal a pair of binary white dwarfs that eclipsed one another, with an orbital period of just ~7 minutes. Even though ZTF scans the sky on much longer timescales, about every 48 hours, Barnes was able to pull this rapid, short-period signal out of the cumulative data.Īrtist's impression of a pair of orbiting white dwarfs, called ZTF J1530+5027. One object in the sky - a faint, relatively nearby point of light - appeared to fainten and brighten periodically by about ~3% every 7 minutes: an incredibly short timescale for such a large variation. When looking at the ZTF data, Caltech astronomer Kevin Burdge noticed something unusual. (This is something you automatically lose if you take a time-average of your data, and one of the greatest science losses that mega-constellations of satellites threaten to inflict on the field of astronomy.) By monitoring a portion of the sky with excellent precision over a period of time, you can become sensitive to small, periodic changes in an object’s brightness. One of the best tools we have to study these short-time changes is known as ZTF: the Zwicky Transient Facility. Astronomically, one of the newest frontiers occurs in what we call time-domain astronomy: signals from the Universe that vary, in some fashion, on very short timescales. But it’s when we find new objects that push the limits of what’s possible that the biggest scientific advances - the ones that take us beyond what’s already been established - can often occur. Theoretical studies can be incredibly useful, particularly when those theories are informed by robust observations that paint a consistent picture. Bolte (University of California, Santa Cruz) and NASA/ESAĪll of that, however, is purely theoretical. Harvey Richer (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada), M. Characterizing them, even nearby, pushes our equipment to its absolute limits. White dwarfs are incredibly faint and small, but they can be measured and identified with modern observatories. stellar remnants, circled in white on the right in the inset Hubble image. The globular cluster Messier 4 has not only stars inside, but a large number of white dwarfs. and a strong magnetic field at its surface, just like any rapidly rotating star or stellar remnant is anticipated to have.a high mass, since two typical white dwarfs (of 1 solar mass or less) will combine to either lead to a supernova or a white dwarf of mass potentially comparable to the Chandrasekhar limit,.a rapid rotation, from the conservation of angular momentum of inspiraling and merging stellar remnants,.This new white dwarf should have some particular properties that set it apart from white dwarfs that form from single stars, so even if we only find a white dwarf post-merger, we should still be able to identify its origin.
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When they do, if their combined mass exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit, you’ll get a stellar cataclysm: a type Ia supernova, which can briefly shine as bright as some ~10 billion Suns.īut if their combined mass remains below that critical threshold instead - and keep in mind that some white dwarfs can be incredibly low in mass, with the lowest-mass one coming in at just ~17% the mass of the Sun - they’ll simply lead to the formation of another white dwarf. Just as binary black holes and neutron stars are known to inspiral and merge, so, too, will white dwarfs in binary systems. But that’s the beginning of the story, not the end.
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