Astronomers have discovered the very first confirmed planetary system that resembles the expected fate of our solar system, when the Sun reaches the end of its life in about five billion years.
Astronomy
Oct 13, 2021
2
10852
White dwarfs are among the most stable of stars. Left on their own, these stars that have exhausted most of their nuclear fuel—while still typically as massive as the Sun—and shrunk to a relatively small size can last ...
Astronomy
Oct 12, 2021
0
59
At least one 1 in 4 white dwarfs will end its life as a magnetic star. At the end of their life, most stars shrink in size to the dimension of a small planet, an object called a "white dwarf," a late stage of stellar evolution.
Astronomy
Oct 4, 2021
0
113
The prevalent view of white dwarfs as inert, slowly cooling stars has been challenged by observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. An international group of astronomers have discovered the first evidence that ...
Astronomy
Sep 6, 2021
82
498
About 2,000 light-years away from Earth, there is a star catapulting toward the edge of the Milky Way. This particular star, known as LP 40−365, is one of a unique breed of fast-moving stars—remnant pieces of massive ...
Astronomy
Aug 2, 2021
76
3318
When a star like our sun gets to be old, in another seven billion years or so, it will no longer be able to sustain burning its nuclear fuel. With only about half of its mass remaining it will shrink to a fraction of its ...
Astronomy
Jul 26, 2021
0
2741
Any life identified on planets orbiting white dwarf stars almost certainly evolved after the star's death, says a new study led by the University of Warwick that reveals the consequences of the intense and furious stellar ...
Astronomy
Jul 20, 2021
4
2793
Astronomers have made the rare sighting of two stars spiraling to their doom by spotting the tell-tale signs of a teardrop-shaped star.
Astronomy
Jul 12, 2021
1
6383
Astronomers have discovered the smallest and most massive white dwarf ever seen. The smoldering cinder, which formed when two less massive white dwarfs merged, is heavy, "packing a mass greater than that of our Sun into a ...
Astronomy
Jun 30, 2021
3
4404
Four planets locked in a perfect rhythm around a nearby star are destined to be pinballed around their solar system when their sun eventually dies, according to a new study that peers into its future.
Astronomy
Jun 11, 2021
2
303
