two faces. Janus, a white dwarf star with hydrogen on one side and helium on the other[Today’s space image]

[SAPOD]Today’s “Space Image”. We introduce characteristic images introduced by sorae in the past, attractive images released by space agencies of various countries, and images submitted by space astronomy fans and experts. (There is a link to the original article at the end of the article)

(Source: sorae portal site to the universe)

Source

Image Credit: K. Miller, Caltech/IPAC
sorae – Discovery of white dwarf star with “two faces” with different surface compositions. Could it be due to magnetic field?

This was introduced by sorae in an article on July 25, 2023.White dwarf star “ZTF J203349.8+322901.1”” This is an imaginary drawing.

The white dwarf star “ZTF J203349.8+322901.1” located approximately 1,300 light years away in the constellation Cygnus was reported as a “white dwarf star whose surface is made of hydrogen on one side and helium on the other.” (Research team led by Ilaria Caiazzo, a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech))

As a result of observations made by the research team using the Keck Telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory, hydrogen was detected (helium (No sign of astronomy), and when the other side was facing the Earth, only helium was detected.

In other words, ZTF J203349.8+322901.1 indicates that one side is made of hydrogen and the other side is made of helium. The research team appears to be calling ZTF J203349.8+322901.1 “Janus” after the two-faced Roman god.

The original article goes into more detail about why this white dwarf has two faces.

Read original article