A white dwarf that was recently predicted to approach our solar system will not do so, according to three astronomers from Armagh Observatory & Planetarium, Centro de Astrobiologa (CAB), and CSIC-INTA.
John Landstreet, Eva Villaver, and Stefano Bagnulo showed in their study, which was accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal and is now available on the preprint server arXiv, that other researchers were deceived into thinking the white dwarf WD 0810–353 would move toward the Oort Cloud at the edge of our solar system.
The first sighting of WD 0810–353 occurred in 2018. Astronomers recognized it as a white dwarf at the time. A pair of Russian astronomers added it earlier this year to a list of astral candidates to keep an eye on over the long term because they might one day move close to the solar system. They discovered that it was traveling at a speed of 373.7 kilometers per second, putting it within 0.49 light-years of the sun and passing through the Oort Cloud in 29,000 years.
After that, a Spanish team discovered new evidence that the dwarf was not actually heading our way. They discovered that it was traveling at 4,200 km/s after recalculating its speed, which was the cause of this change in projection. The researchers examined the white dwarf’s speed, likely future path, and more in this most recent endeavor. Their work started by exploring the white, smaller person’s attractive field.
The team’s investigation of the hydrogen alpha line revealed a shift toward the bluer end of the spectrum, which they attribute to the dwarf’s unusually strong magnetic field. That could give the impression that it is heading straight at us. By taking a more exact estimation of its speed, they found it was only 83 km/sec. According to their conclusion, the white dwarf is not moving in a direction that would bring it close to our solar system.
More information: J.D. Landstreet et al, Not so fast, not so furious: just magnetic, arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2306.11663
