Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Explanation:Star light, star bright: is there a green star out tonight? Other than theSun, all stars are so far from Earth that they appear as points in the sky. They are mostly white, but sometimes noticeablyred or blue. This color typically relates to the temperature: blue stars are hotter than red stars. What about other colors? Thefeatured imageis an illustration showingWD J1330+6435, awhite dwarf star, surrounded by an accretion disk with gas and rocks orbiting the star. White dwarfs aresmall, faint starsthat are left over when a star like the Sunexhausts its nuclear fuel. Astronomersrecently foundthat some white dwarf stars, despite their name, would appearyellow, green, cyan, pink, or purple. Inthese cases, trace elements that were accreted to these stars interact with the stellar atmosphere and shift its normally white color. But, alas! I wish I may, I wish I might, but they are too faint tosee tonight...Tomorrow's picture:eye in the sky