Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Astronomy Picture of the Day - Unexplained Shocks Around a White Dwarf Star
NASA ^ | 16 Feb, 2026 | Image Credit: ESO, K. Iłkiewicz & S. Scaringi et al.; Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESS

Posted on 02/16/2026 1:04:56 PM PST by MtnClimber

Explanation: How is RXJ0528+2838 creating such shock waves? A recently discovered white dwarf star, the farther left of the two largest white spots, RXJ0528+2838, was found 730 light-years away from Earth. Most stars, when done fusing nuclei in their cores for energy, become red giant stars, the cores of which live on as faint dense white dwarfs that slowly cool down for the rest of time. White dwarfs are so dense that the only thing that stops them from collapsing further is quantum mechanics. In about 5 billion years, our Sun will become a white dwarf, too. The featured image, obtained with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, shows unexplained bow shocks around RXJ0528+2838, similar to the bow wave of water around a fast-moving ship. Astronomers don’t yet know what is powering these shocks, which have existed for at least 1,000 years. The red, green and blue colors represent trace amounts of glowing hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen gas.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.

To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 02/16/2026 1:04:57 PM PST by MtnClimber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 02/16/2026 1:05:22 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

3 posted on 02/16/2026 1:06:06 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
White dwarf stars?

Gary Coleman doesnt qualify....

4 posted on 02/16/2026 1:11:41 PM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Wow.


5 posted on 02/16/2026 1:35:49 PM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Wow.


6 posted on 02/16/2026 1:35:49 PM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Anthropogenic caused white dwarfism! We are all going to die. That is- unless, you send me your cash.


7 posted on 02/16/2026 1:42:25 PM PST by Colorado Doug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

No star just sits there. The entire galaxy is rotating. Could be the star is colliding with gas clouds that are not moving in the same direction.


8 posted on 02/16/2026 1:46:16 PM PST by bobbo666
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

That looks pretty darn fabulous. Nice! 👍


9 posted on 02/16/2026 1:47:00 PM PST by Redcitizen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

10 posted on 02/16/2026 2:44:44 PM PST by DannyTN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: bobbo666

I see your argument, but I’m not sure. It would push gas ahead of it, but I’d expect the bow shock to be not much larger than the star itself. It isn’t fusing, so there should be no large heliosphere around it to push gas away over a large diameter spanning many AU. Maybe it has a strong magnetic field and that’s doing it as it moves through ionized gas?


11 posted on 02/16/2026 2:59:23 PM PST by Windcatcher
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson