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.
Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland et Stephen Kane, University of California, Riverside
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.
What’s left after a star explodes.
NASA/ESA/JHU/R.Sankrit & W.Blair via Wikimedia Commons.
The discovery of a white dwarf star with hydrogen and oxygen in its atmosphere suggests water could be planted on stars and planets by bodies like asteroids.
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
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…