What shall we call this class of star?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the classification of a newly identified class of stellar objects that do not fit existing categories, particularly in relation to a binary star system known as EF Eridanus. Participants explore potential names for this class, considering various characteristics and comparisons to known stellar types.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest names like "dark dwarf" or "depleted dwarf" for the new class of stars.
  • One participant argues that "dark dwarf" is too similar to "black dwarf" and proposes "grey dwarf" instead.
  • Another participant humorously suggests "dead dwarf," referencing a fictional context.
  • A different participant offers "striped blowen dwarf" as a playful name.
  • One participant notes that technically, the object could be classified as a brown dwarf according to the IAU definition, which requires a minimum mass for hydrogen fusion.
  • Another suggestion is "Cold Dwarf," which aligns with the characteristics of the object.
  • One participant proposes the name "Thorin," referencing a character from "The Lord of the Rings," linking it to the theme of dwarfs.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the naming of the new class of stars, with multiple competing suggestions and no clear agreement on a preferred term.

Contextual Notes

The discussion reflects uncertainty regarding the classification of the object, as it does not fit neatly into existing categories like super-planets, brown dwarfs, or stars, leading to a variety of proposed names.

Who May Find This Useful

Astronomy enthusiasts, astrophysicists, and those interested in stellar classification may find this discussion relevant.

Phobos
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Any suggestions?

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/05/space.star.reut/index.html

...smaller of two stars gave so much to its larger companion that it reached a dead end, and scientists ...haven't seen anything like it.
Doomed to orbit its more energetic partner for millions of years, the burned-out star has lost so much mass that it can no longer sustain nuclear fusion at its core and has become a new, indeterminate stellar object...
"Now the donor star has reached a dead end -- it is far too massive to be considered a super-planet, its composition does not match known brown dwarfs, and it is far too low in mass to be a star...There's no true category for an object in such limbo."
The binary system EF Eridanus is made up of a recipient, a faint white dwarf star -- a sunlike star that has progressed to the final phase of its life -- and the donor object, which has about one-twentieth of our sun's mass.
 
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A more detailed PR, from Gemini. Interestingly, there may be quite a few of these strange objects.
 
How about "dark dwarf" or "depleted dwarf"
 
Dark dwarf is too much like a black dwarf.

How about a grey dwarf?
 
Dead dwarf? Like the Caves of Moria.
 
striped blowen dwarf :!)
 
Technically it would be a brown dwarfs. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) defines brown dwarfs as objects that are at least 13 times the mass of Jupiter but less than about 75 Jupiter masses - the mass required to initiate hydrogen fusion.
 
Cold Dwarf?
 
Grey Dwarf is coo
how about Thorin? (A Dead dwarf from LotR)
 

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