What are White Dwarfs? - Ask a Spaceman!

It’s time for school! The Astro101 series will cover some of the most important questions in astronomy. In today’s lesson, we’ll have: What is a white dwarf? What is a neutron star? What is a black hole? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!


Keep those questions about space, science, astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology coming to #AskASpaceman for COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF TIME AND SPACE! Music by Jason Grady and Nick Bain.

[Starter]

I have to admit you are such a good communicator. I loved the build up tension and the "go away now" at the end !

[PestOnYT]

Wouldn't surprise me if the drawings in the back would unify RT and QM. ;-) Nice video. BTW: I'm reading your book right now. Like your way of writing. Just like you speak in your videos. I can literally hear you while reading.

[josephtimpanaro]

About time you put something together.

[merrittolsen]

I kind of remember my professor talking about neutron degeneracy pressure.

[winter_skywalker]

This episode reminded me of an older one, titled “the strangeness of quark stars”.

[Max_Flashheart]

Red Star at Night Shepherd's Delight, Big Supernova nearby in the Morning Sheppard's atmosphere is in mourning ....

[tmzwcky]

"Go away now" lol
...are you saying that we're too freaky to exist? :D

[russellneitzke]

If a big bang separates the forces of nature is it possible that black holes recombine them?

[jorgdiernberger]

Thank you Paul, for the good and instructive lesson. Why not showing us some terms and names as Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (i found it in the comments) of your lesson, to make it more effective? i follow you to learn more from your knowledge - all the best from berlin/germany

[russellneitzke]

Does overwhelming quantum degeneracy pressure mean two electrons occupy the same quantum mechanical state in a black hole?

[rock]

Chandrasekhar felt threatened by Eddington so instead of Oxford he went to Chicago.

[MopWhoSmells]

Well yeah White Dwarfs can't get too big because they wouldn't be a "dwarf" anymore.

[russellneitzke]

If light orbits a neutron star could it potentially have a record of the history of the universe?

[MrZenerTech]

Okay but how do the white dwarfs actually form?

[gonzogeier]

Somehow I don't understand what a white dwarf really is!? I find it strange, that I squeeze an electron into a proton and get a neutron! But a neutron don't contains an electron! What happens with the electron?

[alnilam]

Yes cheese, makes perfect sense au revoir {\}

[buzzy-ears]

"White and not cool". Like me when Wu Tang comes on.

[solvingpolitics]

White are white dwarfs? Pfff, that little guy from Game of Thrones!