A white dwarf is what stars like
the Sun become after they have exhausted their nuclear fuel
. Near the end of its nuclear burning stage, this type of star expels most of its outer material, creating a planetary nebula
What is a white dwarf star made of?
The central region of a typical white dwarf star is composed of a
mixture of carbon and oxygen
. Surrounding this core is a thin envelope of helium and, in most cases, an even thinner layer of hydrogen. A very few white dwarf stars are surrounded by a thin carbon envelope.
How is a white dwarf star formed quizlet?
White dwarves are formed
after a dying star sheds its outer layer in a planetary nebula, leaving its white-hot, dense core
. A neutron star results from a star that was so massive that electron degeneracy pressure was not sufficient to prevent the further gravitational collapse of the star’s core.
What is a white star?
1 :
a star of spectral type A or F having a moderate surface temperature and a white or yellowish
color. 2a : an annual morning glory (Ipomoea lacunosa) of the southern U.S. with star-shaped leaves and small white or purplish flowers.
What is in a white dwarf?
The white dwarf consists of
an exotic stew of helium, carbon, and oxygen nuclei swimming in a sea of highly energetic electrons
. The combined pressure of the electrons holds up the white dwarf, preventing further collapse towards an even stranger entity like a neutron star or black hole.
Can you stand on a white dwarf?
White dwarfs are extremely dense stars, and their surface gravity is about 100,000 times as strong as Earth’s. … It would fall unimpeded through your body, carve a channel through your gut, come out through your nether regions, and burrow a hole toward the center of the Earth. Then you’d have to worry about confinement.
Can a white dwarf become a star again?
At other times, the white dwarf may pull just enough material from its companion to briefly ignite in a nova, a far smaller explosion. Because the white dwarf remains intact,
it can repeat the process several times
when it reaches that critical point, breathing life back into the dying star over and over again.
What is an example of a white dwarf star?
Theoretically, white dwarfs cannot exceed 1.4 solar masses, some examples of white dwarf stars are
Sirius B, Procyon B, or Van Maanen
. The nearest known white dwarf to us is Sirius B, at a distance of 8.6 light-years away. … The term “white dwarf” was first coined by astronomer Willem Luyten in 1922.
How long do white dwarf stars live?
A star cluster’s first white dwarfs are born from stars with relatively short main-sequence lives —
about 50 million years
. The progenitor’s life span is neglible when compared to the billions of years its remnants have existed.
What if the sun was a white dwarf?
If you were to form a white dwarf right now, at 20,000 K, and give it 13.8 billion years to cool down (the present age of the Universe), it would cool down by a whopping 40 K:
to 19,960 K
. We’ve got a terribly long time to wait if we want our Sun to cool down to the point where it becomes invisible.
Where do white dwarf stars come from?
Where do White Dwarfs Come From? Where a star ends up at the end of its life depends on
the mass it was born with
. Stars that have a lot of mass may end their lives as black holes or neutron stars. A low or medium mass star (with mass less than about 8 times the mass of our Sun) will become a white dwarf.
What can we say about the interior of a white dwarf quizlet?
The interior of a white dwarf behaves like a degenerate gas,
i.e., the temperature has little effect on the pressure
. Typically, if the mass of a white dwarf increases, the white dwarf shrinks and then explodes if the mass exceeds 1.4 solar masses.
What kind of star is most likely to become a white dwarf supernova?
A white dwarf supernova is possible in a star system with
a binary star
, wherein one is a white dwarf star that has a red giant binary companion….
What is the most beautiful star?
- Sirius A (Alpha Canis Majoris) Our number one star on the list. …
- Canopus (Alpha Carinae) …
- Rigil Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri) …
- Arcturus (Alpha Bootis) …
- Vega (Alpha Lyrae) …
- Capella (Alpha Aurigae) …
- Rigel (Beta Orionis) …
- Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris)
Is the sun white?
The range of colors, or frequencies in a beam of light is called a spectrum. When we direct solar rays through a prism, we see all the colors of the rainbow come out the other end. … “Therefore
the sun is white
,” because white is made up of all the colors, Baird said.
What color is the hottest star?
White stars are hotter than red and yellow.
Blue stars
are the hottest stars of all.
