22
Dec 13

J075141 and J174140: Doubling Down With Rare White Dwarf Systems

Source: Chandra

The shortened names of a system that will evolve into a rare class of binary stars in the future.

In the middle of the twentieth century, an unusual star was spotted in the constellation of Canes Venatici (Latin for "hunting dogs"). Years later, astronomers determined that this object, dubbed AM Canum Venaticorum (or, AM CVn, for short), was, in fact, two stars. These stars revolve around each other every 18 minutes, and are predicted to generate gravitational waves - ripples in space-time predicted by Einstein. (learn more)

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