Astronomy 1021 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Time Dilation, Solar Mass, Naked Singularity

• School: Western University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: Astronomy 1021
• Professor: Chris Racknor

Document Summary

White dwarfs o o o o o o. White dwarfs are leftover cores of low- to intermediate mass stars. Resist gravity through degeneracy pressure, in this case electron degeneracy. Typical wd size : size of the earth. Teaspoon would weigh same as a small truck. Electrons would have to travel faster than the speed of light. White dwarf in close binary o o o o. When mass reaches 1. 4 msun, carbon core ignites. If it is in a binary system, some wd can keep some of the accreted material o. When it reaches chandrasekhar limit, carbon fusion temperature is reached. Wd explodes completely in white dwarf supernova or type 1a supernova. Type ia sn always have the same luminosities o. Then we can use the inverse square law for light to accurately determine the distance to that galaxy. Type ia sn are thus used as standard candles for distance measurements.