White Dwarfs

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

The study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, suggests that white dwarf stars are the main source of carbon atoms in the Milky Way, a chemical element known to be crucial to all life.

Concept:

• When stars like our own Sun, a yellow dwarf star, run out of fuel, they turn into a white dwarf. In fact, 90 percent of all stars in the universe end up as white dwarf stars.
• White dwarfs are hot, dense stellar remains with temperatures that reach 100,000 Kelvin. Over time, billions of years, these stars cool and eventually dim as they shed their outer material. However, right before they collapse, their remains are transported through space by winds that originate from their bodies.
• These stellar ashes contain chemical elements such as carbon.
• Carbon is the fourth most abundant chemical in the universe and is a key element in the formation of life as it is the basic building block to most cells. All of the carbon in the universe originated from stars. However, astronomers could not agree on which type of star is responsible for spreading the most amount of carbon across the cosmos.
• The new study suggests that carbon was essentially trapped in the raw material that formed the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.