White Dwarf Acts Like A Pulsar
Submitted by Robert Bast on February 28, 2008 – 5:05 amNo Comment
Observers had believed white dwarfs were inert stellar corpses that slowly cool and fade away…At least one white dwarf, known as AE Aquarii, emits pulses of high-energy (hard) X-rays as it whirls around on its axis. “We’re seeing behavior like the pulsar in the Crab Nebula, but we’re seeing it in a white dwarf,” says Koji Mukai of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
…Some white dwarfs, including AE Aquarii, spin very rapidly and have magnetic fields millions of times stronger than Earth’s. These characteristics give them the energy to generate cosmic rays.
Found at Space Daily.
(great, more to worry about!)
