Discover the Fastest Spinning White Dwarf Ever Observed – A Galactic Marvel!
The universe is a vast and wondrous place that never ceases to amaze us with its mysterious celestial bodies. And, the recent discovery of the fastest spinning white dwarf ever observed by astronomers is truly captivating!
White dwarfs are the remnants of red giants that have shed their outer shells and reached the final stage of their evolution. These compact stars have high surface temperatures, but low luminosity, making them far less bright than higher-level stars. Despite their small size, they have the masses of full-grown stars and rotate around their own axis with breathtaking speed. While it takes our Earth 24 hours to complete a full rotation, white dwarfs can do it in just a few minutes!
But, the latest discovery of a rapidly rotating white dwarf has surpassed all expectations. It takes just 25 seconds for this celestial body to complete a full rotation, exceeding the previous record holder’s speed by 20%. What’s more, the white dwarf is constantly sucking up material from its galactic neighbor, making it even more fascinating to astronomers.
This system was discovered in 2020, thanks to the periodic radiation pulses in almost all wave bands that were registered. The galactic constellation consists of a red dwarf and a white dwarf with a diameter about the size of the earth but 200 thousand times heavier than our blue planet. The white dwarf’s rotation speed is so immense that the collected material cannot be bound, resulting in it being thrown back into surrounding space.
A team of experts led by astronomer Ingrid Pelesoli used the Hypercam instrument at Grand Telescopio Canarius on La Palma to study the system and understand its unusual characteristics better. Their subsequent analysis revealed that the observed flickering was due to the white dwarf’s immense rotational speed, which is by far the highest ever recorded for this type of celestial body.
The researchers also concluded that the white dwarf must have an unusually high mass not to be torn apart by its own rotational speed. The second peculiarity of this white dwarf is that it could be a propeller star, similar to another white dwarf discovered in the double star system AE Aquarii 300 light years away.
The discovery of this fastest spinning white dwarf ever observed is a significant milestone in astronomy. It provides new insights into the mysteries of the universe and adds another piece to the galactic puzzle. With every new astronomical discovery, we get one step closer to unlocking the secrets of our universe.
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