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Articles on white dwarf

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A white dward (centre) and its companion pulsar make for an excellent natural gravitational laboratory. Mark Myers/OzGrav

Warp factor: we’ve observed a spinning star that drags the very fabric of space and time

One of Einstein’s weirder predictions is that massive, spinning objects exert a drag on space-time itself. Now an orbiting pair of unusual stars has revealed this effect in action.
Searching for planets around nearby stars is like searching for a needle in a field of haystacks. Trevor Dobson/Flikr

How we found a white dwarf – a stellar corpse – by accident

Science is full of surprises. While searching for planets orbiting nearby stars, researchers stumbled across the remains of a star that once outshone the Sun.
Artist’s impression of two white dwarf stars destined to merge and create a Type Ia supernova in 700-million years time. ESO/L. Calçada

White dwarf merger is set to prove supernova theory

Two white dwarfs found orbiting each other at the centre of a planetary nebula are now known to have enough mass that they will eventually trigger a special kind of supernova, according to research published…

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