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Updated November 22nd, 2021 at 21:31 IST

Astronomers find new white dwarf that rotates at record-breaking speed of 25 seconds

In a record-breaking discovery, astronomers have discovered a white dwarf star that completes one rotation in just 25 seconds.

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
University of Warwick
Image: University Of Warwick | Image:self
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In a record-breaking discovery, astronomers have discovered a white dwarf star that completes one rotation in just 25 seconds. According to a report by Daily Mail, researchers from the University of Warwick confirmed that this white-dwarf star named LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9 or J0240+1952 for short is the fastest spinning one discovered to date. The record previously belonged to another white-dwarf star that completed its one rotation in 29 seconds. 

What are white-dwarf stars?

White dwarf stars are the entities that form after stars like the Sun exhaust their nuclear fuel. This type of star expels most of its outer material near the end of its burning stage. Once the star burns out, only the core remains that reaches temperatures over 99,000 degrees celsius. According to NASA, a typical white dwarf is half as massive as the Sun, yet only slightly bigger than Earth.

New white dwarf more massive than Earth

The researchers were able to analyse this new white dwarf star using the HiPERCAM instrument of the world's largest optical telescope-the Gran Telescopio Canarias in La Palma. They found that although the star has a size similar to Earth but is nearly 200,000 more massive than our planet. Moreover, the observations also revealed that the star is pulling material from its nearby stars and scattering it all over space at a speed of about 3,000 kilometres/second. The lead author of the study, Dr. Ingrid Pelisoli said as per Daily Mail.

The rotation is so fast that the white dwarf must have an above-average mass just to stay together and not be torn apart.It is pulling material from its companion star due to its gravitational effect, but as that gets closer to the white dwarf the magnetic field starts to dominate.

He added, “This type of gas is highly conducting and picks up a lot of speed from this process, which propels it away from the star and out into space”. This discovery marks the second discovery of such speedy white dwarf stars with a magnetic propeller system in over 70 years. Tom Marsh, co-author of the study was quoted saying as per Daily Mail, "It's only the second time that we have found one of these magnetic propeller systems, so we now know it's not a unique occurrence”. 

Image: University Of Warwick

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Published November 22nd, 2021 at 21:31 IST

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