
NASA scientists 'weigh' a white dwarf for the first time using a ...
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- Summary
Astronomers have finally weighed an isolated white dwarf, or the shriveled husk of a dead star, using a strange phenomenon predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity decades ago.
In their new research, the study authors used positioning data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission to predict precisely when LAWD 37 would pass in front of the distant star, allowing the team to prepare for the gravitational lensing event accordingly.Based on the distant star’s slight movement in the sky, the team calculated that the white dwarf is approximately 56% as massive as the sun, which agrees with existing models and predictions for what’s going on inside these strange stellar remnants. Read More..