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The metal-rich white dwarf WD 1145+017 is the first white dwarf observed with a disintegrating minor planet that transits the star. [ 176 ] [ 177 ] The disintegration of the planetesimal generates a debris cloud that passes in front of the star every 4.5 hours, causing a 5-minute-long fade in the star's optical brightness. [ 177 ]
First solitary white dwarf Van Maanen 2: 1917 Van Maanen's star is also the nearest solitary white dwarf [5] First white dwarf with a planet WD B1620−26: 2003 PSR B1620-26 b (planet) This planet is a circumbinary planet, which circles both stars in the PSR B1620-26 system [6] [7] First singular white dwarf with a transiting object WD 1145+017 ...
Sirius is a binary star consisting of a main-sequence star of spectral type A0 or A1, termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, termed Sirius B. The distance between the two varies between 8.2 and 31.5 astronomical units as they orbit every 50 years.
The revised Yerkes Atlas system [7] listed a dense grid of A-type dwarf spectral standard stars, but not all of these have survived to this day as standards. The "anchor points" and "dagger standards" of the MK spectral classification system among the A-type main-sequence dwarf stars, i.e. those standard stars that have remained unchanged over years and can be considered to define the system ...
At a distance of 14.1 light-years it is the third closest of its type of star after Sirius B and Procyon B, in that order. [10] [11] Discovered in 1917 by Dutch–American astronomer Adriaan van Maanen, [12] Van Maanen 2 was the third white dwarf identified, after 40 Eridani B and Sirius B, and the first solitary example. [13]
1910 – the spectrum of 40 Eridani B is observed, making it the first confirmed white dwarf. 1914 – Walter Sydney Adams determines an incredibly high density for Sirius B. 1926 – Ralph Fowler uses Fermi–Dirac statistics to explain white dwarf stars. 1930 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar discovers the white dwarf maximum mass limit.
Nearest white dwarf: Sirius B: 1852 8.6 light-years (2.6 pc) Sirius B is also the second white dwarf discovered, after 40 Eridani B. [9] [25] [26] Nearest brown dwarf: Luhman 16: 2013 6.5 light-years (2.0 pc) This is a pair of brown dwarfs in a binary system, with no other stars. [27] Nearest Luminous Blue Variable: P Cygni: 5,251 light-years ...
Its name comes from the Greek word for "scorching" or "searing". Sirius is also a binary star; its companion Sirius B is a white dwarf with a magnitude of 8.4–10,000 times fainter than Sirius A to observers on Earth. [32] The two orbit each other every 50 years. Their closest approach last occurred in 1993 and they will be at their greatest ...