White Dwarfs: Planet Destroyers or Givers of Life?

Discover the fate of our Sun and the incredible life of white dwarfs! From their explosive origins to their potential in finding extraterrestrial life, join us in exploring these fascinating stars!

[@thepax2621]

I feel like, within the numerous channels narrated by Simon, this one is underappreciated

[@captainspaulding5963]

It is his newest channel, and it is growing :)

[@EbisuMonster]

@@captainspaulding5963 much like his beard, unlike his hair

[@darlenefraser3022]

I love this channel!

[@captainspaulding5963]

​@EbisuMonster it's funny, because it's true 😂😂

[@Baldevi]

@@captainspaulding5963 I thought Places was the newest channel in his huge list? Places is really different, I love it even when it is DARK, and it can be very Dark.

[@SeauxNOLALady]

As a total space nerd, and fan of Simon’s numerous channels, his creation of this channel was a great moment for me. I wish he posted more content more frequently, but the content so far has been wonderful!

[@janijaakola3179]

it was small channel for youtube but huge monetization for simon.

[@milk-it]

100% with you on this!

[@blaqdaze]

one of your best shows so far, Fact Boy! Kudos to the writer.

[@Mikefizzled]

Arnaldo knocked it out the park

[@faolitaruna]

I have lived long enough to see Simon Whistler lecture on physics.

[@GarethMeasday]

Hey there fact boy... I think my brain is made of a white dwarf... Man I'm dense! Hehe. Thanks Simon and team, keep up the good work!

[@cindygr8ce]

Im scared Simon will give up on this channel eventually. Although, if he said tune into astrographics on every other channels video end, i feel the people would come. Half the time, i have no clue when a new channel goes up. i occasionally check the channels lost on all the pages

[@psycofire93]

Nah, I think it’ll be fine. With him not being part of Geographics any longer + space stuff being a passion of his - much like business blaze when it started, it was a slow burn for the first year or two even with him shouting it out

[@cindygr8ce]

@@psycofire93 ooh I wouldn't mind having a second channel devolve into a "business blaze" model. The laid back, tangent laced, lore rich environment is unique in ALL the WhistlerVerse

[@Mikefizzled]

I feel like the bar for entry of understanding and appreciating the majority of the Astrographics channel is much higher than his more popular channels. It's a double-edged sword, the content is making some seriously sciencey stuff more accessible, but it's still serious science, even with fact boys' approachable delivery.

[@cindygr8ce]

@@Mikefizzled maybe slightly idk I don't watch the Casual Criminality or Into the Shadows so I can say for sure. I don't true crime because most of the time it glories the monster while shattering any healing the victims loved ones had managed to do ...I know Simon and the gang are way more empathetic and victim focused then 90% of those who tell the story but the topic was ruined for me long ago

[@philosophysique5419]

Don't be scared. It's gonna be ok

[@KentoLeoDragon]

That gas giant 14 times the mass of Jupiter could have some large habitable moons around it with liquid oceans and atmospheres, it seems to me.

[@QBCPerdition]

My first thought, too

[@Papa_Nurgle360]

Endeladus, Saturn

[@icantthinkofaname987]

I actually studied the possibility of this very thing myself! I'm not an expert, though I have been studying (potential) habitable worlds for several years now. Unfortunately, WD 1856+534 b's mass remains very uncertain, and even with the very highest mass estimate, its hill-sphere (the furthest distance at which something can orbit) is too small to allow a moon that wouldn't be either torn apart or rendered a hothouse like Venus due to tidal forces. It's a shame, since it IS actually JUST within the star's habitable zone.

[@MisterPlanePilot]

If anyone is curious, a recurring nova will be visible to the naked eye sometime between now and September. The white dwarf is T Coronae Borealis, in the Coronae Borealis constellation. It's magnitude will go from 10 to 2, so will be as bright as the north star. So keep your eyes out!

[@jacksonstarky8288]

Still waiting for this channel's video on Uranus. We've seen Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune... why no love for the one with the name that our inner juveniles find amusing?

[@insertfunnyhandlehere]

Oh Simon our sun is going to consume the Earth long before it dies

[@aaronsouthard8366]

Fun fact. There are more possibe white dwarf types aside from carbon. Oxegen, neon, helium white dwarfs are all possible as well depending on the original stars mass.

[@davidtatro7457]

My favorite fact thus far about white dwarfs is that some of them could literally be diamonds the size of a planet. And it's possible that black dwarfs couldn't be anything but diamonds.

[@bethmarriott9292]

Send the billionaires into space to fetch them 👀

[@anoyingnomad]

They are crystallized carbon, yes

[@kkloikok]

The preferred term is "little people of light" not white dwarfs.

[@chuckmesser2202]

So a black dwarf will someday be a giant lump of coal with a giant diamond at its center. Isn't the Universe wonderfully weird?

[@denissavgir2881]

The song "twinkle twinkle little star", while containing outdated hypotheses since the advent of astrophysics (example: stars are not little. They are immensely gigantic), it does contain some truth. The verse "like a diamond in the sky" is accurate in some cases. Though not stars in the usual sense as they are past the end of a star's lifecycle, a white dwarf star's core contains crystallized carbon. Diamonds are also crystallized carbon. The core of the white dwarf known as Lucy (catalog BPM 37093), named after the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", contains a diamond in its core that is 10 billion trillion trillion carats. In today's diamond prices, that would make it worth $55,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (55 decillion dollars). Despite its value, it would not make for a good engagement ring. Due to its mass and density, if a woman were to wear an engagement ring made of Lucy's core, the resulting gravitational field would cause the woman to be crushed into a puddle 1 millimeter deep with a diameter of 9.4 centimeters.

[@denissavgir2881]

To estimate the dimensions of the puddle formed by a woman crushed by the gravitational field of a white dwarf like Lucy, we need to consider the force of gravity and the resulting compression of her body. Step 1: Gravitational Force Calculation Lucy, with a mass approximately 1.1 times that of the Sun (2.2 x 10^30 kg), has a very high surface gravity. The formula for surface gravity is: g = GM/R^2 where G is the gravitational constant (6.67430 x 10^-11 m^3 kg^-1 s^-2), M is the mass of the star, and R is the radius. Assuming Lucy has a radius typical for a white dwarf, around 10,000 km (1 x 10^7 m), the surface gravity g can be calculated as: g = (6.67430 x 10^-11 x 2.2 x 10^30) / (1 x 10^7)^2 g ≈ 1.468 x 10^6 m/s^2 Step 2: Estimating Compression Human bodies are not perfectly incompressible, but for simplicity, assume that the woman is uniformly compressed into a very dense fluid. The human body's average density is roughly 1,000 kg/m^3, similar to water. Step 3: Volume Calculation If the woman's mass is 70 kg, her volume would be: V = mass/density = 70 kg / 1,000 kg/m^3 = 0.07 m^3 Step 4: Compressed Volume Under Extreme Gravity Under the extreme gravity of a white dwarf, the volume would decrease significantly. The exact volume compression factor depends on material properties under extreme pressures, but let's assume a reduction by a factor of 10^4, as an approximation. V_compressed = 0.07 / 10^4 = 7 x 10^-6 m^3 Step 5: Puddle Dimensions Assume the woman forms a circular puddle. The height (depth) h of the puddle and the radius r are related by the volume: V_compressed = π r^2 h For simplicity, assume the depth is 1 mm (0.001 m): 7 x 10^-6 = π r^2 x 0.001 r^2 = (7 x 10^-6) / (π x 0.001) r^2 ≈ 2.23 x 10^-3 r ≈ 0.047 m = 4.7 cm Conclusion - Depth of the woman puddle: approximately 1 mm - Diameter of the woman puddle: approximately 9.4 cm These are rough estimates based on significant assumptions, but they illustrate the extreme compression a human body would undergo under the gravitational field of a white dwarf star.

[@DMTrance87]

Weird flex, but ok

[@DS-xd9iu]

I'm gonna refer to all my dates as cataclysmic variables, or just white dwarves. Or undead monsters. Simon knows my kinda girl it seems.

[@iainfreeman5112]

I remember studying a light curve of a classical nova in university. V2361.

[@jotchava]

MOAR!

[@denissavgir2881]

Imagine experiencing your planet being torn apart. Thats gotta be fucking horrifying

[@Torskel]

You’d be dead long before you experience it

[@ioanbota9397]

Realy I like this video its so so interestyng

[@sailinbob11]

Simon... man of infinite channels.

[@MattCatt09]

My favorite white dwarf is Warwick Davis

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

Habitable planets in the White dwarfs would be tidally locked, and also, close orbits of those hypothetical planets around their parent stars would subject them to strong tidal forces that could render them uninhabitable by triggering a greenhouse effect.

[@thepax2621]

"Black Dwarfs" sounds ideal, without context, to sent Twitter(X) into a frenzy 😅

[@Hundo-f3d]

I can see it now "white dwarfs matter" . Where's our national white dwarfs month?

[@holyassbutts]

Oh no 😂

[@philosophysique5419]

I prefer 'little stars of colour'. Let's try and be progressive here? Yea? Let's be better, people.

[@billotto602]

We've got 20-30 years left. Max. There's a gallaxy wide polar shift occurring right now. Suspicious Observers channel.

[@BetonKundySlap]

Damn, you have a space related channel now?

[@Methazar]

But... A white dwarf has about a few hundred million years of being a red giant, which either consumes or boils local plantery bodies. Meaning a planet that orbits close to a white dwarf is a crisp husk, or pulled in from further out (like a gas/ice giant, or a frozen rock). Which in turn decreases the chance for any life. And that doesn't even take into account all the radiation that star has been throwing out for billions of years.

[@StevenJeNova]

My thoughts exactly. Searching for life there seems a bit of wasted time, given what the star has gone through.

[@Methazar]

@@StevenJeNova doesn't make any sense to me. I can only assume it's because it's easier. But definitely seems like a setup for failure

[@jscotthatcher380]

sometimes i think Simon forgets that this channel exists.

[@simonamikelionyte8863]

It is unlikely for live to exist on a white dwarf system planet. For the water to be in a liquid state planet needs to orbit a white dwarf very close, because white dwarfs are "cool" stars. And if an unlucky planet orbits its star quite close, such a planet will be "eaten" by the star during the red giant phase. A planet could have liquid water if it migrates from outer regions closer to the star after the red giant star phase is over. 🌟

[@CptVyker]

Peter Dinklage, Warwick Davis, etc.

[@tomaburque]

Have you done a piece on Clyde Tombaugh?

[@jaxmike7]

A little confusing with the explanation about how a planet might be destroyed by a white dwarf. The way it was presented it almost sounded like the suggestion was that a globular cluster would go into a stellar system and pull a planet out of its orbit. Globular clusters are composed of thousands to millions of stellar systems and are thus much larger than a star or its planet.

[@the_hessian__]

I am emotionally damaged from "before I knew better" and tried to use one for a jump in Elite Dangerous. I am highly prejudiced against White Dwarfs from that game.

[@Gungnirs_revenge]

The next video title is: what is a kelvin?

[@mh3594]

I was like tf is factory 50 cream 😂😂

[@EbisuMonster]

LETS GOOOOO FACT BOY

[@asthecar7064]

Was thinking of the wrong White Dwarfs

[@jon-darma333]

A single member of Snow Whites Gang of Seven that sing Hi Ho.

[@StonerSmurfin]

It seems to me that if a white dwarf star is made of carbon under massive pressure then as it cools into a black dwarf star and cools completely then it should be nothing but a huge diamond, possibly covered in a small layer of carbon.

[@nomdeplume5446]

I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what happens.

[@denissavgir2881]

That reminds me of this thing I wrote: The song "twinkle twinkle little star", while containing outdated hypotheses since the advent of astrophysics (example: stars are not little. They are immensely gigantic), it does contain some truth. The verse "like a diamond in the sky" is accurate in some cases. Though not stars in the usual sense as they are past the end of a star's lifecycle, a white dwarf star's core contains crystallized carbon. Diamonds are also crystallized carbon. The core of the white dwarf known as Lucy (catalog BPM 37093), named after the Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", contains a diamond in its core that is 10 billion trillion trillion carats. In today's diamond prices, that would make it worth $55,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (55 decillion dollars). Despite its value, it would not make for a good engagement ring. Due to its mass and density, if a woman were to wear an engagement ring made of Lucy's core, the resulting gravitational field would cause the woman to be crushed into a puddle 1 millimeter deep with a diameter of 9.4 centimeters.

[@Bob6800a]

I thought the white dwarf was the best character on Game of Thrones.

[@zeeochance]

Those little guys that helped Snow White?

[@another3997]

It's all very impressive sounding, until you realise we still don't know if there is, or ever was life on our own next door neighbour, Mars. Then there are the various moons in our solar system where they think life *might* exist, but we can't actually find out. Yet scientists talk about finding habitable planets orbiting stars so distant they would take thousands of years to reach travelling at the speed of light. 🤔😁

[@beagleuk3233]

What is it?

[@xyzpdq1122]

I thought that dead stellar cores were iron, not carbon ???

[@keithwalmsley1830]

Only 5 billion years left, best not book any holidays!!! 🤣

[@Torskel]

It’s a big ball made of diamond

[@corymoore2292]

I’ve captured the most detailed image of Uranus ever seen, it’s magnificent.

[@mikeygallos5000]

Does any one know if there are any white dwarfs in the Whistlerverse?

[@stainedyouth5151]

I think I have a white dwarf living next door

[@irwainnornossa4605]

*Röntgen rays! Kelvin is not a degree.

[@sheep-go-quack7600]

Degree K or °K was actually used in the past, but it became obsolete by international agreement in 1967.

[@unclerojelio6320]

17 minutes? Yeah, I think I can stand Simon for 17 minutes today.

[@JoshDisher]

Replace "White Dwarf" with "First wife" 😅

[@whiteowl8703]

Very short peoples that are cacasion 😊

[@4362mont]

#TIL that in stars, white is considered a color.

[@ludabalkanska2890]

Hello early birds 🎉

[@cvcvcvc7141]

Peter Dinklage

[@texashustler9845]

I'm Paul Munion ❤️

[@emil5717]

Why?

[@Kxngmxrk]

first view 😁

[@tiagomiotto1067]

1 million of them??? Scientis say there around 10 billion of them!!!!! Missed a few zeros there Mr Fact Boy!!!!😜