Stellar Alignment Yields White Dwarf's Mass (IMAGE)

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Stellar Alignment Yields White Dwarf's Mass

Caption

Looks can be deceiving. In this Hubble Space Telescope image, the white dwarf star Stein 2051B and the smaller star below it appear to be close neighbors. The stars, however, reside far away from each other. Stein 2051B is 17 light-years from Earth; the other star is about 5,000 light-years away. Stein 2051B is named for its discoverer, Dutch Roman Catholic priest and astronomer Johan Stein.

Credit

NASA, ESA, and K. Sahu (STScI)

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