The study, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, was led by the University of Warwick with the University of Sheffield, and funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation, and the Leverhulme Trust. “This latest discovery has shown that the model works really well, it predicted that the star had to be spinning fast, and indeed it does.” “The second discovery is almost as important as the first as you develop a model for the first and with the second you can test it to see if that model works. “It establishes that the magnetic propeller mechanism is a generic property that operates in these binaries, if the circumstances are right. “This type of gas is highly conducting and picks up a lot of speed from this process, which propels it away from the star and out into space.”Ĭo-author Professor Tom Marsh, from the University of Warwick Department of Physics, said: “It’s only the second time that we have found one of these magnetic propeller systems, so we now know it’s not a unique occurrence. “It is pulling material from its companion star due to its gravitational effect, but as that gets closer to the white dwarf the magnetic field starts to dominate. “The rotation is so fast that the white dwarf must have an above average mass just to stay together and not be torn apart. Lead author Dr Ingrid Pelisoli, of the University of Warwick Department of Physics, said: “J0240+1952 will have completed several rotations in the short amount of time that people take to read about it, it is really incredible. White Dwarf Issues for the 2nd Edition of Age of Sigmar Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2018 June 2018: July 2018: August 2018: September 2018: October 2018: November 2018: December 2018: 2019 January 2019: February 2019: March 2019: April 2019: May 2019: June 2019: July 2019: August 2019: September 2019: October 2019.
What is left will flow towards the star’s magnetic poles. It acts as a protective barrier, causing most of the falling plasma to be propelled away from the white dwarf. That is almost 20% faster than the confirmed white dwarf with the most comparable spin rate, which completes a rotation in just over 29 seconds.Īt some point in its evolutionary history J0240+1952 developed a strong magnetic field. In comparison, one rotation of the Earth takes 24 hours while on J0240+1952 it takes just 25 seconds. In the past, this plasma was falling onto the white dwarf’s equator at high speed, providing the energy that has given it this dizzyingly fast spin.
It is part of a star system and its immense gravity is pulling material from its larger companion star in the form of plasma. The star the Warwick team observed, named LAMOST J024048.51+195226.9 – or J0240+1952 for short, is the size of the Earth but is thought to be at least 200,000 times more massive.
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