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I am also curious about the cool-off period of white dwarf stars being measured in 'trillions of years' - given that the universe is only 13.8 billion years old
by blacksmith_tb 8y ago
I am also curious about the cool-off period of white dwarf stars being measured in 'trillions of years' - given that the universe is only 13.8 billion years old, I assume we are just modeling that?
- mlindner 8y agoYes. These will eventually cool into so-called "black dwarfs" that emit very little light. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_dwarf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_dwarf They cool so slowly because they are so dense it's very hard for energy to escape.
- xref 8y agoRight, and the model predicts that no “black dwarfs” exist in the universe yet because it is too young for a white dwarf to have ever cooled off.