PhysOrg: Most extreme white dwarf binary system found

Find out the latest thinking about our universe.
Post Reply
User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21577
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

PhysOrg: Most extreme white dwarf binary system found

Post by bystander » Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:43 am

Most extreme white dwarf binary system found with orbit of just 5 minutes
PhysOrg Astronomy - 2010 March 08
An international team of astronomers, including Professor Tom Marsh and Dr Danny Steeghs from the University of Warwick, have shown that the two stars in the binary HM Cancri definitely revolve around each other in a mere 5.4 minutes. This makes HM Cancri the binary star with by far the shortest known orbital period. It is also the smallest known binary. The binary system is no larger than 8 times the diameter of the Earth which is the equivalent of no more than a quarter of the distance from the Earth to the Moon.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents ... eme_white/

Post Reply