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Binary Star EF Eridanus Baffles Astronomers

Posted by michael on from the sucked-dry dept.

baldinux writes "Reuters is reporting the finding of a new stellar object in the Eridanus constellation that may require the astronomical community to create a new category of stellar entities -- that is, dead ones. In the binary system, one of the stars 'gave too much' (Reuters) of its own resources to its partner white dwarf star, resulting in a breakdown of nuclear fusion, thus producing this 'dead' entity. Researchers at Gemini North (click here for images) and Keck II observatories at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, have been analyzing this unique system."

5 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Dead star by mknewman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think this sort of star has been postulated for quite a while, especially with black holes and neutron stars sucking material out of companion stars, but this is the first observation of the result of that process, a star that is no longer fusing. It's a dead husk. I think that makes it a supergiant planet or an ex-star, but I doubt it's fusing anything anymore. It's been sucked dry.

  2. Could this "re-ignite" the dwarf star? by MobyDisk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    IANAC (I am not a cosmologist)
    AINAA (I am not an astrophysicist)
    IAAAJ (I am an average joe)

    Could the dwarf star absorb enough mass that fusion could start again? That would be awesome!

  3. Bad headline, not baffling by Alsee · · Score: 1, Interesting

    It is an oddball arrangement they have never seen before, but the only baffling thing is what to call it. It's way too big to be a supergiant planet, but it has been drained down and "switched off" the shining process so it doesn't qualify as a star anymore.

    An interesting addition to the stellar zoo, but probably of little scientific signifigance.

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  4. Re:Probly Classified as an L or a T dwarf by barawn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If there's no nuclear fusion in its core, it's not a star.

    Actually, this object is incredibly interesting. Composition-wise, it's a star frozen in time, and without all the nasty chemical-changing properties of nuclear fusion going on. There's a lot that could be learned from objects like that.

  5. What I'd like to know is by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 2, Interesting
    OK, the donor "star" no longer has enough mass to maintain fusion, but it's still a big compressed ball of (mostly) hydrogen and helium, held together by gravity. The white dwarf "vampire" star is still sitting right there.

    So what caused the process to stop? Why isn't the vampire still sucking on the donor?

    Maybe it is, and we can't see it, (even though I suspect we'd see something as the matter was gravitationally accelerated into the vamp star.

    Or maybe the two are farther apart than they used to be, even though this doesn't make much sense for a binary star.

    Either way, I'm puzzled.

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