white dwarf (spot in center) enveloped by planetary nebula NGC 2440
white dwarf
n.
The collapsed remnant core of a low-mass star that has ejected its outer layers and can no longer sustain nuclear fusion. White dwarf stars are extremely dense, having no empty space between atoms, but lack the mass to reach the even more extremely dense states of a neutron star or black hole.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
white dwarf
n
(Astronomy) one of a large class of small faint stars of enormous density (on average 108 kg/m3) with diameters only about 1 per cent that of the sun, and masses less than the Chandrasekhar limit (about 1.4 solar masses). It is thought to mark the final stage in the evolution of a sun-like star
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
white′ dwarf′
n.
a star that is approximately the size of the earth, has undergone gravitational collapse, and is in the final stage of evolution for low-mass stars, beginning hot and white and ending cold and dark (black dwarf).
[1920–25]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
white dwarf
A whitish star that is very dense and very small, about the size of Earth. A white dwarf is what remains after the central star of a planetary nebula burns out and becomes cool and dim. See more at star. See Note at dwarf star.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
white dwarf
(star) A roughly Earth-sized and compacted remnant of a star that has collapsed but is not yet a neutron star.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
| Noun | 1. | white dwarf - a faint star of enormous density star - (astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior |
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