Astronomers Uncover 4 Hidden White Dwarfs Within 65 Light-Years as Hubble Tracks Red Dwarf Wobbles
Updated
Updated · Space.com · Jul 15
Astronomers Uncover 4 Hidden White Dwarfs Within 65 Light-Years as Hubble Tracks Red Dwarf Wobbles
3 articles · Updated · Space.com · Jul 15
Summary
Four white dwarfs hidden by brighter red dwarf companions were identified within about 65 light-years of Earth, marking the first such nearby binary detections; one ranks as the ninth-closest white dwarf to the solar system.
Hubble ultraviolet observations confirmed the stars after astronomers noticed radial-motion "wobbles" in the red dwarfs, using custom calibration to separate true white dwarf signals from red-dwarf glare.
G 203-47, just 25 light-years away, stood out because its red dwarf rotates roughly every 100 days while orbiting the white dwarf every 15 days, defying the tidal locking seen in similar systems.
The find matches predictions of roughly 4 to 5 close white dwarf-red dwarf pairs within 65 light-years, supporting current population models and suggesting another 9 to 10 such binaries may still be undiscovered.