In news– Recently, a team of astronomers have confirmed that full rotation once in 25 seconds is the fastest spinning white dwarf star J0240+1952.
About white dwarf star J0240+1952-
- The astronomers have shown that it is an extremely rare example of a magnetic propeller system.
- It is located 2,016 light-years away in the constellation of Aries.
- According to them, it is part of a binary star system; its immense gravity is pulling gaseous plasma from a nearby companion star and flinging it into space at around 3,000 kilometres per second.
- It is only the second magnetic propeller white dwarf to have been identified in over 70 years.
- It is almost 20% faster than the confirmed white dwarf with the most comparable spin rate, which completes a rotation in just over 29 seconds.
- This particular star, named LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9 — or J0240+1952 is the size of the Earth but is thought to be at least 200,000 times more massive.
What is a white dwarf star?
- White dwarf stars, so called because of the white colour of the first few that were discovered, are characterized by a low luminosity.
- Its mass is comparable to that of the Sun, while its volume is comparable to that of Earth.
- Because of their large mass and small dimensions, such stars are dense and compact objects with average densities approaching 1,000,000 times that of water.
- It is a star that has burnt up all of its fuel and shed its outer layers, now undergoing a process of shrinking and cooling over millions of years.
- They have medium to high mass and are the final evolutionary state of stars whose mass is not high enough to become a neutron star.
- The materials in a white dwarf star can no longer undergo fusion reactions, so the star has no source of energy.
Source: The Indian Express
