Record Breaking White Dwarf Discovered

[Dryson]

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/astronomer-discover-record-breaking-white-dwarf-star-moon-sun/

The star , making a revolution once every seven minutes, revolves faster than the time it takes light to reach Earth.

I think that's pretty interesting.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Yes, it now holds the record for the most massive white dwarf ever detected. Counterintuitively, the more massive a white dwarf the smaller its radius. At 1.35 solar masses, this one is well into the relativistic Fermi gas regime and close to the Chandrasekhar limit (1.4 solar masses) for non-rotating white dwarfs beyond which a neutron star results (up to the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit of about 2.3 solar masses) beyond which lie quark stars and strange stars possibly before we get to the lowest mass stellar black holes at about 5 solar masses - there is considerable theoretical uncertainty about this mass region and no quark or strange star candidates have been confirmed. The Chandrasekhar limit increases slightly for a uniformly rotating white dwarf. At the limit, the theoretical radius approaches one tenth of the radius of a solar mass white dwarf - about 700 km compared to 6900 km. This white dwarf has an estimated radius of about 2150 km.

White dwarf - Wikipedia

 

[publiusr]

Can’t imagine what that surface gravity would be. Even Hulk couldn’t stand

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Can’t imagine what that surface gravity would be. Even Hulk couldn’t stand

The thought of not being able to stand would just make Hulk even angrier. It wouldn't stop him, that's just science!

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Can’t imagine what that surface gravity would be. Even Hulk couldn’t stand

That's easy to calculate. The acceleration due to a body's gravity is proportional to its mass divided by the distance squared to its centre of mass. So for a white dwarf with a mass of 1.35 solar masses = 445,500 Earth masses and a radius of 2150 km = 0.3375 Earth radii, the g force is 445,000/(0.3375)^2 = 3.9 million times that on the surface of Earth. For comparison, the g force at the edge of the Sun's photosphere is 330,000/(109)^2 = 27.8 times that on the surface of the Earth. No idea whether the Hulk could stand even that - I think it depends on the requirements of the plot.

 

[Christopher]

No idea whether the Hulk could stand even that - I think it depends on the requirements of the plot.

Generally, the Hulk can perform any feat of strength as long as he gets angry enough. So he'd have to get 3.9x10^6/27.8 = 110,288 times as angry to stand up on the white dwarf than he would to stand up on the "surface" of the photosphere. It's science!

 

[Oddish]

3.9 million g's... Hulk might survive it, but the rest of us would be a thin layer of paste.

 

[StarCruiser]

But, a thoroughly cooked paste!

 

[Oddish]

We'd be like that black layer of burnt stuck-on food that ruins your favorite skillet.