File:White
dwarf.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (2011, April 5).
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White_dwarf.jpg
Short
Definition:
White
dwarfs, or cold stars, is a term often used to describe stars in the
final stages of their evolution. These stars, which lose their energy
sources and cannot perform fusion reactions, are the stars that tend
to squeeze into themselves due to the gravitational law. This
phenomenon
was firstly
discovered by the British astronomer 'William Herschel' in 1783.
Detailed
Definition:
As
one of the densest stellar remnants in space, white dwarfs are stars
that have run out of most of their nuclear fuel and tend to collapse
inwards.
These stars, which are relatively Earth-sized and composed entirely
of carbon and oxygen mass, are less than 1.4 solar masses when their
cores are stable, but they tend to suffer constant heat and radiation
loss because they do not undergo any fusion process. According to
NASA's calculations, the core temperatures of white dwarfs can reach
up to 100,000 Kelvin. Apart from the carbon and oxygen mass that make
up their core, their envelope are surrounded by thin helium and in some cases hydrogen atoms.
‘’White
dwarfs reach this incredible density because they are collapsed so
tightly that their electrons are smashed together, forming what is
called "degenerate matter.’’
(Dobrijevic, D.,
& Tillman, N. T. (2022, March 4). White dwarfs: Facts about the
dense stellar remnants. Space.com.
https://www.space.com/23756-white-dwarf-stars.html)
Translations
of Terms/Concepts into Partner Languages:
Kurzgesagt
– In a Nutshell. (2017, May 4). The Last Light Before Eternal
Darkness – White Dwarfs & Black Dwarfs [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsN1LglrX9s
The
Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (1998, July 20). White dwarf
star | Definition, Size, Mass, Life Cycles, & Facts. Encyclopedia
Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/white-dwarf-star
White
Dwarfs. (2021, May 4). Science.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/white-dwarfs
