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WHITE DWARF
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A faint star of enormous density
Synonyms:
white dwarf; white dwarf star
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Hypernyms ("white dwarf" is a kind of...):
star ((astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior)
Context examples:
During its first observing campaign, K2 trained its gaze on a patch of sky in the constellation Virgo, measuring the minuscule change in brightness of the distant white dwarf.
(K2 Finds Dead Star Vaporizing a Mini 'Planet', NASA)
However, there has been a debate over what triggers these white dwarf explosions.
(Trigger for Milky Way’s Youngest Supernova Identified, NASA)
The burned-out star, called a white dwarf, is the white dot in the center.
(Hubble Views a Colorful Demise of a Sun-like Star, NASA)
After that, all that remains of the star is what we see here: glowing outer layers surrounding a white dwarf star, the remnants of the red giant star’s core.
(Hubble Views Final Stages of a Star’s Life, ESA/NASA)
The white dwarf is small and, at a blistering 28 000 degrees Celsius (five times the Sun's temperature), extremely hot.
(First Giant Planet around White Dwarf Found, ESO)
Scientists using NASA's repurposed Kepler space telescope, known as the K2 mission, have uncovered strong evidence of a tiny, rocky object being torn apart as it spirals around a white dwarf star.
(K2 Finds Dead Star Vaporizing a Mini 'Planet', NASA)
In particular, an increase in X-ray and radio brightness of the supernova remnant with time, is expected only if a white dwarf merger took place.
(Trigger for Milky Way’s Youngest Supernova Identified, NASA)
The unusual position of the planet implies that at some point after the host star became a white dwarf, the planet moved closer to it.
(First Giant Planet around White Dwarf Found, ESO)
For years, researchers have found evidence that some white dwarf atmospheres are polluted with traces of heavier elements such as calcium, silicon, magnesium and iron.
(K2 Finds Dead Star Vaporizing a Mini 'Planet', NASA)
Eventually, Sun-like stars lose their outer layers, leaving behind only a burnt-out core, a white dwarf.
(First Giant Planet around White Dwarf Found, ESO)
