Found: fastest eclipsing binary, a valuable target for gravitational wave studies

Artist’s animation depicting the eclipsing binary ZTF J1530+5027, which is comprised of two extremely dense objects (white dwarfs) that orbit each other roughly every seven minutes. One second of time in the animation represents two minutes of real time. The smaller white dwarf is slightly larger than Earth and is the more massive of the two, with about 60% the mass of the sun. Its companion is larger but less massive, with only about 20 percent the mass of the sun. The orbital separation of these objects is shrinking by about 26 centimeters per day due to the emission of gravitational waves, depicted in green near the end of the movie.

Credit:
Caltech/IPAC

About the Video

Id:noao1906a
Release date:July 24, 2019, 10 a.m.
Related releases:noao1906
Duration:30 s
Frame rate:29.97

About the Object

Name:J1530+5027
Category:Stars

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