white dwarf

noun

Updated on: 25 Apr 2018

Definition of white dwarf

plural white dwarfs

: a small hot whitish star of low intrinsic brightness usually with a mass approximately equal to that of the sun but with a density many times larger

See white dwarf defined for English-language learners

See white dwarf defined for kids

Recent Examples of white dwarf from the Web

Another astonishing exoplanet was spotted orbiting a white dwarf, the smoldering embers of an extremely old star near death.

— eva botkin-kowacki, The Christian Science Monitor, "How Kepler opened our eyes to the vastness of our galactic neighborhood," 16 Apr. 2018
But in 8 billion years, the sun will collapse into a white dwarf, taking away our solar system's source of heat and energy and leaving it a barren wasteland.

— sophie weiner, Popular Mechanics, "What Will Happen in the Next 100 Trillion Years?," 12 Aug. 2017
The sun will have exhausted its hydrogen in 5.4 billion years and enter a red giant phase, consuming helium for a few hundred million years before becoming a white dwarf.

— chicago tribune, chicagotribune.com, "Ask Tom: Is global warming the result of the sun turning brighter as it nears the end of its life?," 14 Mar. 2018
The white dwarf’s mass was exactly in line with predictions made in a theory developed by Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar in 1930.

— sylvia morrow, Discover Magazine, "Weighing a White Dwarf," 1 Feb. 2018
As general relativity predicts, light from the background star bent around the white dwarf, distorted by its gravitational field.

— sylvia morrow, Discover Magazine, "Weighing a White Dwarf," 1 Feb. 2018
The white dwarf mercilessly cannibalizes its partner, siphoning off matter and accumulating it into a ring around its atmosphere.

— lorraine boissoneault, Smithsonian, "The Secret Lives of Cannibal Stars Revealed, Thanks to 15th Century Korean Astronomers," 31 Aug. 2017
If one of those stars evolves into a small but massive white dwarf, the hefty dwarf can pull gas from its companion.

— National Geographic, "‘Lost’ Sighting of Brightest Supernova Found in Ancient Text," 27 Apr. 2016
Any star lighter than that will eventually collapse and become a denser body known as white dwarf.

— kevin lui, Time, "Astrophysicist S. Chandrasekhar's Life is Being Celebrated With a New Google Doodle," 18 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'white dwarf.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.