{"id":343516,"date":"2026-01-06T07:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=941813"},"modified":"2026-01-06T07:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:58:10","slug":"nasas-ixpe-measures-white-dwarf-star-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=343516","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s IXPE Measures White Dwarf Star for First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"This<\/a><\/figure>
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This artist\u2019s concept depicts a smaller white dwarf star pulling material from a larger star, right, into an accretion disk. Earlier this year, scientists used NASA\u2019s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer) to study a white dwarf star and its X-ray polarization. <\/div>\n
MIT\/Jose-Luis Olivares<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By Michael Allen<\/em> 
 
For the first time, scientists have used NASA\u2019s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer) to study a white dwarf star. Using IXPE\u2019s unique X-ray polarization capability, astronomers examined a star called the intermediate polar EX Hydrae, unlocking the geometry of energetic binary systems. 
 
In 2024, IXPE spent nearly one week focused on EX Hydrae, a white dwarf star system located in the constellation Hydra, approximately 200 light-years from Earth. A paper about the results published in the Astrophysical Journal. Astrophysics research scientists based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge led the study, along with co-authors at the University of Iowa, East Tennessee State University, University of Li\u00e9ge, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University. 
 
A white dwarf star occurs after a star runs out of hydrogen fuel to fuse in its core but is not massive enough to explode as core-collapse supernovae. What remains is very dense, roughly the same diameter as Earth with as much mass as our Sun.  
 
EX Hydrae is in a binary system with a main sequence companion star, from which gas is continuously falling onto the white dwarf. How exactly the white dwarf is accumulating, or accreting, this matter and where it arrives on the white dwarf depends on the strength of the white dwarf star\u2019s magnetic field. 
 
In the case of EX Hydrae, its magnetic field is not strong enough to focus matter completely at the star\u2019s poles. But, it is still rapidly adding mass to the accretion disk<\/a>, earning the classification \u201cintermediate polars. <\/p>\n

By Michael Allen\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the first time, scientists have used NASA\u2019s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer) to study a white dwarf star. Using IXPE\u2019s unique X-ray polarization capability, astronomers examined a star called the intermediate polar EX Hydrae, unlocking the geometry of energetic binary systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2024, IXPE spent nearly one week focused on EX Hydrae, a white dwarf star system located in the constellation Hydra, approximately 200 light-years from Earth. A paper about the results published in the Astrophysical Journal. Astrophysics research scientists based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge led the study, along with co-authors at the University of Iowa, East Tennessee State University, University of Li\u00e9ge, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A white dwarf star occurs after a star runs out of hydrogen fuel to fuse in its core but is not massive enough to explode as core-collapse supernovae. What remains is very dense, roughly the same diameter as Earth with as much mass as our Sun. \u00a0<\/p>\n

EX Hydrae is in a binary system with a main sequence companion star, from which gas is continuously falling onto the white dwarf. How exactly the white dwarf is accumulating, or accreting, this matter and where it arrives on the white dwarf depends on the strength of the white dwarf star\u2019s magnetic field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the case of EX Hydrae, its magnetic field is not strong enough to focus matter completely at the star\u2019s poles. But, it is still rapidly adding mass to the accretion disk, earning the classification \u201cintermediate polars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an intermediate polar system, material forms an accretion disk<\/a> while also being pulled towards its magnetic poles. During this phenomenon, matter reaches tens of millions of degrees Fahrenheit, bouncing off other material bound to the white dwarf star, creating large columns of gas that emit high-energy X-rays \u2013 a cosmic situation perfect for IXPE to study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNASA IXPE\u2019s one-of-a-kind polarimetry capability allowed us to measure the height of the accreting column from the white dwarf star to be almost 2,000 miles high \u2013 without as many assumptions required as past calculations,\u201d said Sean Gunderson, MIT scientist and lead author on the paper.<\/strong> \u201cThe X-rays we observed likely scattered off the white dwarf\u2019s surface itself. These features are far smaller than we could hope to image directly and clearly show the power of polarimetry to \u2018see\u2019 these sources in detail never before possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Information from IXPE\u2019s polarization data of EX Hydrae will help scientists understand other highly energetic binary systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More about IXPE<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h2>\n

\u00a0The IXPE mission, which continues to provide unprecedented data enabling groundbreaking discoveries about celestial objects across the universe, is a joint NASA and Italian Space Agency mission with partners and science collaborators in 12 countries. It is led by NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.\u202fBAE Systems, Inc., headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, manages spacecraft operations together with the University of Colorado\u2019s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder.\u202fLearn more about IXPE\u2019s ongoing mission here:\u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/ixpe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Allen\u00a0\u00a0For the first time, scientists have used NASA\u2019s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer) to study a white dwarf star. Using IXPE\u2019s unique X-ray polarization capability, astronomers examined a star called the intermediate polar EX Hydrae, unlocking the geometry of energetic binary systems.\u00a0\u00a0In 2024, IXPE spent nearly one week focused on EX Hydrae, a [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15612,16614,15672,15673],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astrophysics","category-ixpe-imaging-x-ray-polarimetry-explorer","category-marshall-astrophysics","category-marshall-space-flight-center"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t