BPM 37093 - the "diamond" star
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, reproduced with permission.
BPM 37093 - the "diamond" star
|
What's in a Name: |
The 37093rd star in the Bruce Proper Motion catalog. Also known as V*886 Cen, the 886th variable star in the constellation Centaurus. |
|
Claim to Fame: | The most massive pulsating white dwarf currently known, with a
crystal core of carbon and oxygen. A white dwarf is the final state of stars like the
Sun, an exposed core that just slowly cools down over time. These stars begin to pulsate when the surface temperature reaches about 12,000 degrees.
|
|
Type of Star: | Hydrogen-atmosphere variable white dwarf (Spectral Class DAV4.3).
|
|
How Far Away: | 50 light years.
|
|
How Big: | About 1/200 the Sun's radius (0.6 times the Earth's radius), but
nearly the same mass as the Sun!
|
| How Bright: | 1/2000 times the Sun's absolute visual brightness.
|
|
Where to View: | In the constellation Centaurus.
Not visible to the unaided eye.
|
|
When to View: | Best viewed from the Southern hemisphere during March-June.
|
Shop Windows to the Universe Science Store!
The
Fall 2009 issue of The Earth Scientist, which includes articles on student research into building design for earthquakes and a classroom lab on the composition of the Earth’s ancient atmosphere, is available in our
online store.
You might also be interested in:
Satellites in the 1960's looked for a type of light called Gamma Rays. They found bursts of Gamma Rays coming from outer space! They can't hurt you. They are stopped by the Earth's atmosphere. We have
...more
When we look up at the night sky, we notice that there are many stars in our sky. Stars must like to live together in star cities - galaxies. Our city of stars is called the Milky Way, and it is home to
...more
Neutron Stars form when really big stars die. When such a star runs out of fuel its center begins to collapse under gravity. When the center collapses the entire star collapses. The surface of the star
...more
Spiral galaxies may remind you of a pinwheel that blows in the breeze. Like a pinwheel, a spiral galaxy is rotating, and it has spiral arms. Through a telescope or binoculars,a spiral galaxy may look
...more
When stars like our own sun die they will become White Dwarfs. As a star like our sun is running out of fuel in its center it grows into a red giant. This will happen to our sun in 5 Billion years. The
...more
What's in a Name: Arabic for "head of the demon" Claim to Fame: Represents Medusa's eye in Perseus. A special variable star that "winks" every 3 days. Type of Star: Blue-white Main Sequence Star, and
...more
What's in a Name: Nicknamed the "Pup" because it is the companion to Sirius, "the Dog Star" Claim to Fame: Highly compressed white dwarf remnant. Density about 50,000 times that of water. It has approximately
...more
