Hubble image archive
Hubble Measures Deflection of Starlight by a Foreground Object
How Gravity Can Bend StarlightThis illustration reveals how the gravity of a white dwarf star warps space and bends the light of a distant star behind it.White dwarfs are the burned-out remnants of normal stars. The Hubble Space Telescope captured images of the dead star, called...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2017
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2017-25-4046-image
How Gravity Can Bend Starlight
This illustration reveals how the gravity of a white dwarf star warps space and bends the light of a distant star behind it.
White dwarfs are the burned-out remnants of normal stars. The Hubble Space Telescope captured images of the dead star, called Stein 2051 B, as it passed in front of a background star. During the close alignment, Stein 2051 B deflected the starlight, which appeared offset by about 2 milliarcseconds from its actual position. This deviation is so small that it is equivalent to observing an ant crawl across the surface of a quarter from 1,500 miles away. From this measurement, astronomers calculated that the white dwarf's mass is roughly 68 percent of the sun's mass.
Stein 2051 B resides 17 light-years from Earth. The background star is about 5,000 light-years away. The white dwarf is named for its discoverer, Dutch Roman Catholic priest and astronomer Johan Stein.
Credits
NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Stein 2051 B, WD 0426+588 |
| Object Description | White dwarf star |
| R.A. Position | 04h 31m 13s |
| Dec. Position | +58° 58' 41" |
| Constellation | Camelopardalis |
| Distance | 17 light-years (5.5 parsecs) |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov