Hubble Uncovers 4 Hidden White Dwarfs Within 65 Light-Years, Lifting Local Count 16%
Updated
Updated · Metro.co.uk · Jul 25
Hubble Uncovers 4 Hidden White Dwarfs Within 65 Light-Years, Lifting Local Count 16%
3 articles · Updated · Metro.co.uk · Jul 25
Summary
Four white dwarfs hidden behind brighter red dwarfs have been confirmed near Earth, with one system, G 203-47, just 25 light-years away.
Hubble spotted the faint stellar remnants in ultraviolet light after researchers noticed the red dwarfs wobbling, a sign that unseen companions were orbiting them.
G 203-47 circles its white dwarf every 14.9 days while the red dwarf rotates about every 100 days, and the find makes that white dwarf the Sun’s ninth closest known.
The discoveries raise the estimated local white-dwarf population by 16%, and researchers say roughly 10 more nearby hidden binary systems may still be undiscovered.
Those missed systems could include brown dwarfs or planets around white dwarfs, sharpening the search for potentially habitable worlds in future missions such as ESA’s PLATO.