White dwarf

White dwarf and Supernova



          A white dwarf is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. They are very dense; a white dwarf's mass is comparable to that of the Sun and its volume is comparable to that of the Earth

        In 1910 Henry Norris Russell, Edward Charles Pickering, and Williamina Fleming found a white dwarf because it is the unusual faintness of white dwarfs

      White dwarfs are thought to represent the end point of stellar evolution for main-sequence stars with masses from about 0.07 to 10 solar masses. The composition of the white dwarf produced will differ depending on the initial mass of the star.

    A white dwarf is stable once formed and will continue to cool almost indefinitely; eventually, it will become a black white dwarf, also called a black dwarf











Where do White Dwarfs Come From?

      Where a star ends up at the end of its life depends on the mass it was born with. Stars that have a lot of mass may end their lives as black holes or neutron stars. A low or medium mass star (with mass less than about 8 times the mass of our Sun) will become a white dwarf. A typical white dwarf is about as massive as the Sun, yet only slightly bigger than the Earth. This makes white dwarfs one of the densest forms of matter, surpassed only by neutron stars and black holes.



Credit : Nasa