Description: Redditch Astronomical Society, Redditch Bromsgrove Astronomy Society
society (2132) astronomy (1171) lectures (391) telescopes (193) redditch (152) bromsgrove (113) observing (28) iya2009 (5) dark site (4) asronomical
NOTE: Second Tuesday of Month
Prof. Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay (Warwick University) Sirius B and the discovery of white dwarfs
Sirius is the brightest star in the sky, and the seventh-nearest stellar system, at a distance of 8.6 light years. Periodic motions were discovered 180 years ago, which led to the discovery of a faint companion, Sirius B. This finding established the existence of white dwarfs as a new class of stars with low luminosities but relatively hot temperatures. Thanks to the space mission Gaia, we now know of hundreds of thousands of white dwarfs, which are the remains of average-sized stars similar to our Sun. Onc