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TOPIC: WD J1524-0030
Blobrana


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WD J1524-0030
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After billions of years of twinkling and shining, some stars in the heavens appear to "dance" as they wind down. Maybe not like Elvis or Michael Jackson, but they definitely have a rhythmic beat, and some may even spin like a top.
For the next two weeks, the Whole Earth Telescope, an international network of cooperating astronomical observatories led by the University of Delaware, will be continuously monitoring three of these stars to try to figure out what's going on inside their luminous masses of cooling plasma.
The primary target is a white dwarf star known as GD358 in the constellation Hercules. It's made of helium and has a surface temperature estimated at around 19,000 Kelvin.
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-- Edited by Blobrana on Thursday 13th of May 2010 04:54:51 PM

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Blobrana


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A group of Central Texas researchers is part of a worldwide effort to track a dying star, trying to learn all they can from the stars pulsations as it fades away.
A white dwarf located in the Ophiucus constellation in the southern sky is being monitored by 22 observatory telescopes, including the Paul and Jane Meyer Observatory near Clifton.
White dwarfs are dying stars, nearing the end of their life cycles, and usually have a mass equal to that of the sun but are only as large as the Earth, making them very dense.

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Blobrana


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The idea was to be able to observe a star continuously for 24 hours a day for period of a couple weeks because you cant do that from a site like this. Like right now we cant observe because the sun is out.
The team will zero in on one white dwarf, with the unfortunate name of WDJ1524-0030. If skies are clear extra telescopes will monitor the other targets, including GD358. The reason for continuous monitoring, rather than just a snapshot, is that some stars actually do things. They pulsate.
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Blobrana


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White dwarf WDJ1524-0030 Finder's chart

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Blobrana


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'Whole Earth Telescope' spies white dwarf
A worldwide network of telescopes is spending time every night watching the odd death throes of a star very much like the sun.

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Blobrana


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The Whole Earth Telescope (WET), a worldwide network of observatories coordinated by the University of Delaware, is synchronising its lenses to provide round-the-clock coverage of a cooling star. As the star dims in the twilight of its life, scientists hope it will shed light on the workings of our own planet and other mysteries of the galaxy.
The dying star, a white dwarf identified as WDJ1524-0030, located in the constellation Ophiuchus in the southern sky, is losing its brightness as it cools, its nuclear fuel spent. It will be monitored continuously from May 15 to June 11 by WET, a global partnership of telescopes which was formed in 1986.

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Position (2000): RA 15 24 03.25, Dec -00 30 22.9

-- Edited by Blobrana on Tuesday 19th of May 2009 11:03:09 AM

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