Scientists find 1st pulsating white dwarf

London: Scientists have discovered a pulsating white dwarf in a double star system, which they say holds import clues on how our Sun evolved and will eventually die.

The discovery by scientists at the University of Sheffield in the UK means the team can see how binary evolution has affected the internal structure of a white dwarf star in detail for the first time.

An eclipsing binary, or double star system, is made up of two stars orbiting each other and periodically passing in front of each other as seen from the Earth.

White dwarf the burnt out stars cores are left

A image of LHA 120-N150, a substructure of the gigantic Tarantula Nebula, which is situated more than 160 000 light-years away. —

behind when the Sun dies.

This particular white dwarf could provide key

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insights into the structure, evolution and death of these stars for the first time, according to the study published journal Astronomy.

Most white dwarfs are thought to be made primarily of carbon and oxygen, but this particular white dwarf is made mostly of helium.

The researchers think this is a result of its binary companion cutting off its evolution early, before it got a chance to fuse the helium into carbon and oxygen.

The pulsations from this star were discovered using HiPERCAM, a high-speed camera developed by a team led by Professor Vik Dhillon from the University of Sheffield. in the Nature