The Hottest White Dwarf Star Terrorizes Its Partner
The surface of the extreme white dwarf KPD 0005+5106 has an incredible temperature of 200,000 Kelvin. Probably because of its partner – most likely a Jupiter-sized exoplanet that is being ripped apart by the white dwarf.
Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay
- Be also sure to check out my other posts and follow me @kralizec and subscribe to my Youtube channel at Kralizec Gaming Youtube Channel
White dwarfs are the remains of Sun-like stars that have already gone through their red giant phase. The fate of white dwarfs is to slowly cool down so we rarely associate high temperatures with them. But that is a mistake as at least shortly after they turn into a white dwarf they are truly hot at around 100,000 Kelvin.
But the white dwarf KPD 0005+5106 is special. It is extremely hot. If you put a thermometer at its surface it would measure 200,000 Kelvin making it the hottest known white dwarf. And it’s even close – just 1,300 light-years away making it a nice target for further research.
Astronomer You-Hua Chu from the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica (ASIAA) in Taiwan, and her colleagues analyzed x-ray data that came from the Chandra space observatory. They found out that KPD 0005+5106 has a partner nobody knew about beforehand. The white dwarf is stealing mass from its partner and massacring it with hard radiation.
The x-ray radiation coming from the white dwarf lowers and rises every 4.7 hours. The most likely explanation is that an exoplanet closely orbits the white dwarf. This exoplanet should be roughly the size of Jupiter while being just 900,000 kilometers away from the white dwarf. This means the exoplanet is truly being terrorized and if it is true the exoplanet won’t last long, at max a few million years before the white dwarf eats it up.
The astronomers think the presence of the exoplanet is the reason why KPD 0005+5106 is so extreme. It could perhaps even explain other similar cases even if they aren’t as extreme. On top of that, the observation of an exoplanet orbiting a white dwarf is evidence that planets are capable of surviving the death of a Sun-like star. Even if not for long.
Sources:
- If you like the content I’m producing about science maybe you will like the content I produce about gaming as well! Be sure to check out my other posts!