Nearest white dwarfs scaled one in 120 million
This is another of my just-spheres posts. The idea this time is to compare in the same scale the size of the nearest white dwarf known with the Earth or other astronomical bodies like Neptune. White dwarf are remnant of the end of the life of stars like our Sun. The models are just spheres scaled one in 120 million and one in 250 million. There is also added the white dwarf WD 1145+017, which has an exoplanet orbiting around posted here, and it is also included our Sun, as it will be after its supernova and loose nearly all of its material.
The file's names explained: name_1_x_10_y.stl is 1 : x * 10y. So _1_6_10_7 is 1:600000000 or one in 60 million.
The file's names explained: name_1_x_10_y.stl is 1 : x * 10y. So _1_6_10_7 is 1:600000000 or one in 60 million.
Sirius B
Sirius B is the closest white dwarf known to the Solar System, and it is likely to be so, because a closer one must be detectable. Sirius A, the other member of the system, is a giant blue star, the brightest star on the night sky. This white dwarf is also one of the heavier ones, 2% heavier than the Sun; most of them are sized around 0.6 solar mass.- Type: White Dwarf.
- Orbit: Sirius A
- Distance to the Sun: 8.66 ly.
- Orbital period: 50.1284 yr
- Composition: Degenerate matter.
- Density: 2.44x106 g/cm3.
- Dimensions: ~11600 km
- Model scale: 1:1.2x108 (10cm) 1:2.5x108 (4.5cm)
Procyon B
It orbits a F-type star, Procyon A. This kind of stars are a little bigger than the Sun, but much hotter, having a white-yellow colour (Sun-like G-type stars are often refered as yellow stars).- Type: White Dwarf.
- Orbit: Procyon A
- Distance to the Sun: 11.46 ly.
- Orbital period: 40.82 yr
- Composition: Degenerate matter.
- Density: 4.7x105 g/cm3.
- Dimensions: ~17200 km
- Model scale: 1:1.2x108 (14cm) 1:2.5x108 (7cm)
Van Maanen 2
The closest free floating white dwarf, that is, without any stellar companion.- Type: White Dwarf.
- Distance to the Sun: 14.1 ly.
- Composition: Degenerate matter.
- Density: 7.2x105 g/cm3.
- Dimensions: ~15300 km
- Model scale: 1:1.2x108 (13cm) 1:2.5x108 (6cm)
40 Eridiani B
The first white dwarf to be suspected to exist, even before white dwarfs were recognized. It is the binary companion of 40 Eridiani C, a red dwarf, and this pair orbit 40 Eridiani A, named Keid, a K-type (orange) star. The main body of the system has one known planet, that by its mass it is infered to be a super-Earth planet.- Type: White Dwarf.
- Orbit: 40 Eridani A
- Distance to the Sun: 16.26 ly.
- Orbital period: 50.1284 yr
- Composition: Degenerate matter.
- Density: 2.96x105 g/cm3.
- Dimensions: ~19450 km
- Model scale: 1:1.2x108 (16cm) 1:2.5x108 (8cm)
G 240-72
This white dwarf has a relatively low temperature, about the same temperature of the Sun. White dwarfs emits light only because of their temperature after its formation, so they cool because this loss of energy. The older it became, the cooler its surface, and lower its colour temperature. The age of this remnant star (after the supernova which form it) is about 5.7 billon of years.- Type: White Dwarf.
- Distance to the Sun: 19.8 ly.
- Composition: Degenerate matter.
- Density: 1.2x106 g/cm3.
- Dimensions: ~13700 km
- Model scale: 1:1.2x108 (11cm) 1:2.5x108 (5.5cm)
LP 658-2
- Type: White Dwarf.
- Distance to the Sun: 20.89 ly.
- Composition: Degenerate matter.
- Density: 1.15x106 g/cm3.
- Dimensions: ~13830 km
- Model scale: 1:1.2x108 (11cm) 1:2.5x108 (5.5cm)
WD 1145+017
This white dwarf is not particularly close to our home but it's significant for being the first known white dwarf with a planet, or kind of, orbiting around it.- Type: White Dwarf.
- Distance to the Sun: 570 ly.
- Composition: Degenerate matter.
- Density: 4x105 g/cm3.
- Dimensions: ~17800 km
- Model scale: 1:1.2x108 (15cm) 1:2.5x108 (7cm)
Sun (as a white dwarf)
This is not a current existing white dwarf, but it is a representation of how it could be our Sun when it ends its main sequence phase. It will grow and engulf Mercury, Venus, probably the Earth and the Moon, and it may reach the Mars orbit. Then, and meanwhile, it will starts to shede itself, loosing most of its material, and forming a planetary nebula of several light year of size. Once the Sun achieves the white dwarf phase (8 Myr from now) it will stop to produce energy by atomic fusion, and will emit radiation only by its temperature. This Solar remnant will be about 1.42 Earth's diameter, but 180 thousand its mass, about 0.54 the current solar mass.- Type: White Dwarf.
- Composition: Degenerate matter.
- Density: 3.46x106 g/cm3.
- Dimensions: ~18100 km
- Model scale: 1:1.2x108 (15cm) 1:2.5x108 (7cm)
