A binary star system has been confirmed to have the shortest period, with a non-planetary star orbiting a companion star every 51 minutes.
According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a research team led by D. Kevin Berg, a researcher in the department of physics at the American Papalardo University, analyzed the result of the analysis of the binary system ZTF J1813+4251 in the constellation Hercules about 3000 light-years from Earth, and it was published in the journal Nature.
The research team analyzed this binary system as a “catastrophic variable”. A cataclysmic variable star is a binary system in which two stars approach each other over billions of years, and the white dwarf, which has reached the final stage of stellar evolution, absorbs the material of the other star and quickly glows.
| ▲ Imagine catastrophic variable stars in close contact with each other. |
ZTF J1813+4251 has an orbital period of just 51 minutes, making it the shortest catastrophic variable star discovered to date.
The research team discovered ZTF J1813+4251 in observational data collected by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a large-scale astronomical observatory at the Paloma Observatory in California. From ZTF data that captured day, month and year luminosity changes by photographing over 1000 images of almost a billion stars, first identifying a million stars showing hourly brightness changes and then manually processing them in ZTF J1813+. 4251 were found.
The research team then confirmed the diameter, mass and orbital period of the two stars using the WM Kek Observatory in Hawaii and the Gran Canaria Telescope (GTC) in La Palma, Spain.
It was observed that the size and mass of the white dwarf was one hundredth the size of the Sun, and the companion star was about one tenth the size and mass of the Sun, orbiting the white dwarf in 51 cycles. , minute.
The research team concluded that ZTF J1813+4251 is running through computer simulations based on this specific data.
A white dwarf in orbit like a white dwarf is said to produce hydrogen and is in a transitional period where only a helium core remains. The two stars are expected to converge with each other, and after about 70 million years, the period of revolution between them will decrease to 18 minutes, and then begin to diverge again.
According to scientists, this was predicted by astronomers about 30 years ago, but the catastrophic transient variable was observed for the first time.
Dr. Berg said: “This is a rare case of a celestial body transitioning from hydrogen to stored helium.” Celestial bodies were expected to move within a very short orbital period, but there was a long debate about whether they would be short enough to emit gravitational waves. It’s happening, but this observation put an end to it.”
Scientific team press@jeonpa.co.kr
