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Fastest (and Most Compact) Stellar Spinner Confirmed
gregg writes "HM Cancri has been confirmed as a binary system of two white dwarfs orbiting each other so closely that they complete one orbit every 5.4 minutes; they are separated by a mere 8 Earth diameters. 'These are the burnt-out cinders of stars such as our Sun, and contain a highly condensed form of helium, carbon and oxygen. The two white dwarfs in HM Cancri are so close together that mass is flowing from one star to the other. HM Cancri was first noticed as an X-ray source in 1999, showing a 5.4 minutes periodicity, but for a long time it has remained unclear whether this period also indicated the actual orbital period of the system. It was so short that astronomers were reluctant to accept the possibility without solid proof. '"
It was so short that astronomers were reluctant to accept the possibility without solid proof.
What about very hot, plasmatic proof?
i found red lint in my navel. BUT MY SWEATER IS BLUE!?!??!?!! WHY?????
Perhaps you have a binary star system in your navel, and the Doppler effect is inducing velocity variations in the spectral lines in the light between the lint and your eyes.
Is the lint changing colour every 5.4 minutes? Is your head 16,000 light years away from your head?
I think we should send in the University of Warwick to investigate.
The artist's rendition shows two spherical bodies, but there's no way that can be correct. At the orbital velocities involved these things must have tidal bulges that make Kevin Smith look positively svelte!
Supersonic? Keep in mind that in space, no one can hear you... oh, nevermind.
The best use for this is obviously to install it on the wheels of a stellar El Dorado.
The total mass is almost certainly less than 1.4 time the mass of the sun and therefore does not have enough total mass to create supernova and a neutron star (its nowhere near massive enough to form a black hole).
It happens in binary main sequence stars. This is only one of 2 binary white dwarf systems that have direct impact accretion (the other is named V407 Vul). Usually the accretion stream misses the primary star, and forms an accretion disk. In these systems, the accretion stream slams into the the accreting white dwarf at a velocity of about 1% the speed of light, btw!
Does this mean that at some point one of them could lose so much mass that there will no longer be a stable pair? I have this vision of one of them suddenly shooting off at a tangent at a horrendous velocity like some cosmic bowling ball.
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Is your head 16,000 light years away from your head?
Woah. You just blew my mind.
Like this?
If you can't hear in space why is there a whooosh when the Enterprise goes by?
Spacecraft have sensors that pick up electromagnetic signatures of nearby spacecraft. These are connected to computers that transform sensor data into visualizations (graphics) and auralizations (sound effects) for the bridge crew. What you are hearing is a sound effect that represents a passing starship.
If you make a closed box around the two white dwarfs and move mass from one to the other you will see that the center of gravity does not change and so I would not think anything would go flying off. Rather both bodies would just move toward the center of gravity while the larger one got larger and the smaller got smaller. If they collided with some force stuff could be thrown away from the collision, but no escape velocity could be reached without another force being involved.
Morpheus, God of Dreams.