Connecting the Dots Between White Dwarves and Supernovae (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Connecting the Dots Between White Dwarves and Supernovae

Caption

Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy of this inconspicuous blue object reveals it to be an extremely rare stellar remnant: a white dwarf with an oxygen-rich atmosphere. The progenitor of this white dwarf is likely to have been relatively massive, and to have just barely avoided collapsing into a neutron star. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Nov. 12 issue of Science Express, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. B.T. Gaensicke of University of Warwick in Coventry, UK and colleagues, was titled, "Two White Dwarfs With Oxygen-Rich Atmospheres."

Credit

Image courtesy of The Sloan Digital Sky Survey

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