Pair of white dwarfs locked in 6-minute orbit might one day be observed by gravitational waves
Current gravitational-wave observatories aren't sensitive enough to capture the gravitational waves of binary stars. They can only see the gravitational chirps of black holes just as they are merging. But that will change as more sensitive instruments are developed. Recently, a team of astronomers discovered a binary white dwarf system that could be a good target for advanced gravitational-wave…
Scientists have discovered a pair of white dwarf stars orbiting each other in a six-minute cycle that could potentially be observed through gravitational waves. Current gravitational wave detectors are not sensitive enough to pick up the signals from such close binary star systems, but future, more advanced observatories may be able to detect the waves.
This discovery was made by analyzing X-ray data from the eRASSU J0608 binary system, which shows regular bursts of X-rays as material from one star is captured by the other. The rapid decay of the stars' orbit, consistent with energy loss from gravitational waves, suggests that the system is one of the strongest gravitational-wave sources among binary stars.
The estimated chirp mass of the system is 0.43 times the mass of our Sun. However, the distance to the binary system cannot be determined from the X-ray observations alone. If the system is close enough to Earth, future space-based gravitational wave observatories like LISA could potentially detect its gravitational waves, allowing for calibration of the signals from other objects.
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