Black dwarf

A black dwarf is a possible kind of star. A black dwarf is made when a white dwarf star becomes too cold. When it is cold enough, it can no longer make large amounts of heat and light. The star will get darker and become black. Scientists are not certain if black dwarfs can exist because it takes longer than the age of the universe (13.8 billion years) for a white dwarf to become one.

A medium or small-sized star (any star less than nine or ten times the size of the sun) becomes white dwarf when it uses all of its fuel.[1] After the star uses its fuel, it is a very tight ball of gasses. Then, it becomes colder and colder, until it stops making light and heat, when it is a black dwarf. Scientists are not sure how long this takes. Some think it takes 1 quadrillion () years, but others think it could be longer.[2] Scientists do not believe that black dwarf stars can exist right now because the age of the universe is only 13.8 billion years.

References

  1. ↑ Hartmann, D. H.; Langer, N.; Woosley, S. E.; Fryer, C. L.; Heger, A. (2003). "How massive single stars end their life". The Astrophysical Journal. 591 (1): 288–300. arXiv:astro-ph/0212469. Bibcode:2003ApJ...591..288H. doi:10.1086/375341. S2CID 59065632.
  2. ↑ Laughlin, Gregory; Adams, Fred C. (1997-01-18). "A dying universe: The long-term fate and evolution of astrophysical objects". Reviews of Modern Physics.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.