All telescopes looking at the same place

1999/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

Telescopes from different countries of the world will observe two strange and interesting objects of the Universe in the next phase of the Iowa State University World Telescope (Whole Earth Teleskope) project. This project was created with the aim of coordinating the work of 20 astronomers from 18 astronomical observatories of the world, who will jointly analyze some deep objects of the Universe. The WET project will use telescopes from South Africa, Chile, Australia, Poland, Spain, Israel, China and India.

The following two objectives of the telescopes are: White dwarf star BPM37093 and double star system PG1336-018. The white dwarf BPM37093 is a really strange object, as it is believed that the star is made up of solid materials. It is believed that this material is a rare diamond-shaped material formed by carbon and crystallized oxygen, formed in the condensation of a star the size of the Sun.

The second object is a system made up of two stars with great interaction. “The light curve of this system is the most interesting known in astronomy,” according to astronomer Steve Kawaler Iowa State. One of the two stars is very bright. The other, however, is quite dark and with a vertiginous turning speed. This allows the eclipses between two stars to be frequent and with the appropriate techniques the composition of the stars can be easily known.