Monday, January 25, 2010

Mute Monday: White Dwarf












Stop by The Troll Report to say Hi and meet other Mute Monday folks.

21 comments:

h said...

Size of the Earth and the mass of the Sun. I'm not fat, I'm big-massed! Fascinating stuf.

Happy Mute Monday!

Buzz Kill said...

I'm guessing you're a closet astrologer. I looked them up and white dwarfs are also known as degenerate dwarfs. I don't know where I'm going with that.

Happy MM!

Joanna Cake said...

Oh! Nice work! Happy MM x

fishy said...

Karl,
These are beautiful images. It would be fine with me if you followed up this posting with an infomercial on White Dwarfs :-)

Aunty Belle said...

Spectacular! Gracious, but I is gettin' an edoocation--fun stuff, no, akshully it is amazin'

Happy MM!

chickory said...

i forget, is this a brand new star? or a dying star. you know this is what they call the guy who was clintons finance dude...i cant remember that either.

Karl said...

Troll: Now that's one way of putting the right spin on things. By the way, that last one was for you it's the Dark Horse Nebula.

Buzz Kill: Astrology no, astronomy yes and as far as degenerate. Well...that's a matter of opinion.

Joanna: Thanks

Fishy: Thanks, well now there's a way to put a bunch of people to sleep. Hmm let's see what would make white dwarves interesting. How about the fourth shot down its a depiction of diamonds forming in the core of the star after the nuclear process has ceased and the pressures compress the carbon inside. Unfortunately you'd be hard pressed to find a setting for it.

Or in a binary system, the white dwarf could pull the enough mass from the other star to increase the temperature and density in the core to ignite a fresh nuclear reaction, but lacking a stable temperature base the reaction would likely run away until the entire star has burned. Ie. A supernova. An event best viewed from thousands of light years away, from the safety of our own humble spacecraft, Earth.

Aunty Belle: To me it is fun and few artists could paint a prettier picture.

Karl said...

Chickory: A dying star. Are you referring to Reuben?

It is interesting how some things get stuck in your head and others don't.

Jenny said...

Ding dang, I wish I had of White Dwarf. GREAT idea and a great collection of pictures, especially that last one.

Happy MM!

Karl said...

Boxer: Many of the white dwarves that the search engines came up with had names: Sneezy Dopey Grumpy. Luckily Disney had not key worded the entire spectrum.

Kymical Reactions said...

well hello, Karl. I sense a strong intrest in space! I know I have a fascination for galaxies far, far away.

Happy MM.

fishy said...

Sleep? Wow, does that mean the differences in milk glass made from arsenic vs made with fluorides is also a yawn? Most everything is interesting after a bit of scratching. Except politics.

yellowdoggranny said...

sooo great.

sparringK9 said...

no it was labor i was thinking of! rober reich...the white dwarf.

rubin. isnt he the anti christ of many cabinets?

Karl said...

Kym: Yes, there is. I actually applied to work up there. I was turned down, so I went to inner space instead of outer.

Fishy: The "arsenic vs made with fluorides" were my favorite part of the commentary.

Jacque Sue: Yes, they are.

K9: Hahahha, apt description.

Rubin's the fella that lobbied along with Greenspan to oppose the regulation of derivatives. You know those nasty little things that brought the whole house of cards tumbling down.

Pam said...

Wow, great idea for the theme and totally out of my league. I'm going to go back and study it some more so I can be edooooucated too.

Pam said...

BTW, isn't there a British Sci-Fi show called White Dwarf? Or is it Red Dwarf? Something spacy anyway. You might be interested.

boneman said...

I see that you've cast aside the seas of the Eath for te vast sea of space.
Very cool.
I only just found out how to find Betelgeuse recently, and posted a grouping from the chive brothers about comparative sizing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0w8TSYJp-w
'course, that doesn't improve my spelling, much

Karl said...

Pam: No need to study this is supposed to be fun. I believe it's Red Dwarf, yet I preferred Dr. Who.

Boneman: Welcome. There are lots of interesting things about the constellation Orion. To me(from a navigator's point of view) Mintaka, (the easternmost star in the belt) has a declination only 17 minutes off the equator. When you see it rise or set at sea, it is almost due East or West.

The scale represented in the video is very well done, all be it a bit fuzzy.

rage said...

It is fascinating stuff, but you need all of those fancy formulas to understand what it all means and it's way beyond my comprehension.

Karl said...

Kitty: You don't need formulas to appreciate the beauty that is our universe.