Astronomers have discovered a white dwarf star just 104 light-years away that is undergoing a fascinating transformation into a “cosmic diamond.” The white dwarf, composed of carbon and metallic oxygen, is gradually crystallizing and becoming denser at its core. This discovery, detailed in a paper accepted into the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, marks the first time a crystallizing white dwarf’s age has been externally constrained. The presence of three companion stars in the system allowed astronomers to estimate a cooling delay caused by core crystallization. This finding opens up new possibilities for studying and benchmarking white dwarf crystallization models.
Source: https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.03140