White Dwarfs

IP Pegasi: Spiral Star

Credit: D. Steeghs, E. Harlaftis, K. Horne, Astronomy Group, Univ. St.Andrews

Image of a white dwarf that has spiral arms of gas around it. The white dwarf is in a binary star system and the spiral arms are part of an accretion disk.

M57: The Ring Nebula
Credit: The Electronic Universe Project, Nelson Caldwell
A white dwarf(blue center star) has somehow thrown off gas to form the planetary nebula that surrounds the star.

Nova Cygni 1992
Credit: NASA, ESA, HST, F. Paresce, R. Jedrzejewski (STScI)
Image of a white dwarf in the middle of a ring of gas. Astronomers believe that so much gas accumulated onto the star that the star just exploded causing the gas to form a ring around the white dwarf

White Dwarf Stars Cool
Credit: H. Richer (UBC), NASA
In the image above the white dwarf stars are circled. Within the star cluster M4 astronomers were able to find many white dwarf stars even through the bright light of other stars close to them.

Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
Credit: H. Bond (STSci), R. Ciardullo (PSU), WFPC2, HST, NASA,
One of the brightest white dwarfs (center dot) has exploded causing its top layers to shed ( as a butterfly sheds its cocoon) In this false color image, the area surrounding the star is filled with gasses and matter that the star has blown off of its surface.

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IP Pegasi: Spiral Star
Credit: D. Steeghs, E. Harlaftis, K. Horne, Astronomy Group, Univ. St.Andrews
Image of a white dwarf that has spiral arms of gas around it. The white dwarf is in a binary star system and the spiral arms are part of an accretion disk.


M57: The Ring Nebula Credit: The Electronic Universe Project, Nelson Caldwell A white dwarf(blue center star) has somehow thrown off gas to form the planetary nebula that surrounds the star.	Nova Cygni 1992 Credit: NASA, ESA, HST, F. Paresce, R. Jedrzejewski (STScI) Image of a white dwarf in the middle of a ring of gas. Astronomers believe that so much gas accumulated onto the star that the star just exploded causing the gas to form a ring around the white dwarf
White Dwarf Stars Cool Credit: H. Richer (UBC), NASA In the image above the white dwarf stars are circled. Within the star cluster M4 astronomers were able to find many white dwarf stars even through the bright light of other stars close to them.	Cocoon of a New White Dwarf Credit: H. Bond (STSci), R. Ciardullo (PSU), WFPC2, HST, NASA, One of the brightest white dwarfs (center dot) has exploded causing its top layers to shed ( as a butterfly sheds its cocoon) In this false color image, the area surrounding the star is filled with gasses and matter that the star has blown off of its surface.