Fastest (and Most Compact) Stellar Spinner Confirmed 47
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. '"
Another discovery (Score:-1)
I need to share this with the great pool of wisdom on slash dot: this morning, i found red lint in my navel. BUT MY SWEATER IS BLUE!?!??!?!! WHY?????
Answer: aliens working with the Italians, obiously, .;.......
Re:Another discovery (Score:5, Funny)
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.
Re:Another discovery (Score:4, Funny)
Is your head 16,000 light years away from your head?
Woah. You just blew my mind.
Re:Another discovery (Score:-1, Offtopic)
Re:Another discovery (Score:0)
Mass flow is common. (Score:2)
> The two white dwarfs in HM Cancri are so close together that mass is flowing
> from one star to the other.
Not a unique feature of this pair. This is common in pairs that are much farther apart.
Re:Mass flow is common. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Mass flow is common. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Mass flow is common. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Mass flow is common. (Score:2)
Thanks for the link.
Re:Mass flow is common. (Score:2)
You have a really weird way of playing bowling. Now, if you had gone with hammer throw [wikipedia.org], you would have had a much better analogy.
Re:Mass flow is common. (Score:2)
I don't try to teach anyone to bowl anymore.
Re:Mass flow is common. (Score:2, Insightful)
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.
Re:Mass flow is common. (Score:2)
I wonder what it would look like (Score:0)
I wonder what it would look like standing on the surface of one, watching the other pass overhead at supersonic speeds?
If such a thing were possible, of course. I know that they're both collapsed stars that still must have uninhabitable temperature conditions, and they're both gaseous bodies that don't really have defined surfaces. But still, it's gotta look awesome.
Re:I wonder what it would look like (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I wonder what it would look like (Score:2)
If you can't hear in space why is there a whooosh when the Enterprise goes by?
Starships have sensors. (Score:3, Funny)
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.
Is that you Mr. Berman? (Score:1)
Spacecraft have sensors that pick up electromagnetic signatures of nearby spacecraft.
Put in a couple of relays in there, add some emitters with a dash of a core breach, and you got yourself a TNG Trek writer!
Re:Is that you Mr. Berman? (Score:1)
Put in a couple of relays in there, add some emitters with a dash of a core breach, and you got yourself a TNG Trek writer!
Put in a couple of bad guys in there, add some gratuitous sex scenes, and you got yourself a best-seller!
Re:Is that you Mr. Berman? (Score:1)
Put in a couple of bad guys in there, add some gratuitous sex scenes, and you got yourself a best-seller!
Sounds like a good plan!
Re:Starships have sensors. (Score:2)
The comet was only a few kilometres across and plowed into the solid planet at over a dozen kilometres per second, so it pulverised itself out of existence in less than a second, hurling black-grey-brown-red-white spurts of material off from the impact point in arcs, most of them directed in the direction of impact, themselves leaving lines of smaller impacts around the edge of the planet, while a visible black ripple spread out from the origin. FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM was how Jex and Yuo's onboard videoaudio sound effect generator chose to interpret this.
The last but one question [qntm.org] by Sam Hughes
Oh my God... (Score:2)
Re:Oh my God... (Score:2)
Well, I don't know what the masses of these stars are, but if they're high enough they'll eventually "nuke" themselves. When one star gains enough mass - either by pulling it out of the other or from the eventual collision when their orbits collapse - if that star has sufficient mass it will trigger a supernova as the core collapses into a black hole.
Re:Oh my God... (Score:2)
Re:Oh my God... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Oh my God... (Score:1)
"It is thought that the white dwarf pair are reaching the end of their frenzied dance. As more gravitational waves are generated, energy is lost from the system, making them spiral closer together until they collide, possibly exploding as a type 1a supernova."
Re:Oh my God... (Score:0)
You could throw every nuke on Earth at this simultaneously and you wouldn't even notice the blip on the radiation output.
You'll need to find something MUCH bigger.
Re:Oh my God... (Score:2)
Ok, let's throw Oprah into the star.
Re:Oh my God... (Score:0)
Even if we're orbiting? But I was so sure!
Proof? (Score:3, Funny)
It was so short that astronomers were reluctant to accept the possibility without solid proof.
What about very hot, plasmatic proof?
Re:Proof? (Score:1)
What about very hot, plasmatic proof?
Meh, I never thought that Wendy Williams was that hot.
Tidal bulges (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Tidal bulges (Score:2)
You have to remember that a white dwarf's gravity is truly enormous and that even at the orbital velocities these dwarfs are orbiting each other, they should still be mostly spherical. At least spherical enough that an artists' rendition shouldn't be too inaccurate.
Re:Tidal bulges (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Tidal bulges (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Tidal bulges (Score:1)
How much is that in Volkswagen Beetle terms?
Re:Tidal bulges (Score:2)
Pics or it didn't happen. Or more prosaically, "I believe that" would be appropriate here.
Re:Tidal bulges (Score:1)
Re:Tidal bulges (Score:5, Informative)
You're right, the artist's conception is messed up. Here [arxiv.org] is the scientific paper. Figure 3 on p. 4 has a realistic diagram, showing one star completely filling its Roche lobe.
Anyway, this is cool because this system is much closer and higher in frequency than the classic Hulse-Taylor [slashdot.org] binary pulsar. That means that it's radiating gravitational waves at a much higher rate.
Re:Tidal bulges (Score:2)
Here [arxiv.org] is the scientific paper. Figure 3 on p. 4 has a realistic diagram, showing one star completely filling its Roche lobe.
Way cool! Thanks for the link.
Re:Tidal bulges (Score:0)
Well, that's cool, but it's still just the scientists conception. We won't really know what its like until we get a closer look. Can we use it to detect gravitational waves though? I thought they were still beyond our observation skills as well.
The best use for this (Score:3, Funny)
The best use for this is obviously to install it on the wheels of a stellar El Dorado.
corrected (Score:0, Offtopic)
Isn't that Jenna Haze? (Score:0)
There's a small, athletic porn star in space? (Score:2)
Youtube video (Score:2)