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Christine Pulliam (617) 495-7463
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Release No.: 2007-08 For Release: Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Cosmic Weight Loss: The Lowest Mass White Dwarf
white dwarf
This artist's conception shows the lowest-mass white dwarf known in our galaxy and its companion star, which likely is another white dwarf. The foreground white dwarf underwent a radical weight-loss plan about 500 million years ago, losing mass to its companion. The low-mass white dwarf now weighs only about 17 percent as much as the Sun. Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)
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SDSS J091709.55+463821.8 (white dwarf)
This photograph from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey shows the lowest mass white dwarf known in the galaxy (marked with an arrow). SDSS J091709.55+463821.8 is about 7,400 lights years away and orbits a close, but invisible, companion star. This image is about 4 arcminutes on a side, showing an area of the sky 1/40 the size of the Full Moon. Credit: SDSS Collaboration
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