"J0526+5934: The Smallest Star in a Ghostly Binary System"
TL;DR
Astronomers have discovered the smallest star ever, part of a binary system called TMTS J0526, with a radius just seven times that of Earth and about one-third the mass of the Sun. It orbits its companion, a white dwarf, with the shortest known period for binary stars at just 20.5 minutes. The observations suggest that the white dwarf is deforming the subdwarf star with every orbit, and this finding could provide insights into the evolution of such extreme stars.
Topics:scienceastronomy#astronomy#binary-system#orbital-period#smallest-star#subdwarf-star#white-dwarf
- Smallest Star Ever Discovered And It's Only A Tiny Bit Bigger Than Earth IFLScience
- For this dead star, 72 years is a single Earth day Space.com
- China-led research team pinpoints smallest star and its ghostly lone companion South China Morning Post
- Scientists discover the smallest star in binary system Interesting Engineering
- J0526+5934 is an ultra-short period double white dwarf, observations show Phys.org
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