LSPM J0207+3331

LSPM J0207+3331

Artist's impression
Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger
Observation data
Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation Triangulum
Right ascension 02h 07m 33.8061s
Declination +33° 31 29.542
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage white dwarf
Spectral type DA
Apparent magnitude (g) 17.86 ± 0.02
Apparent magnitude (r) 17.49 ± 0.02
Apparent magnitude (i) 17.34 ± 0.02
Apparent magnitude (J) 16.6±0.1
Astrometry
Proper motion (μ) RA: 169.843(151) mas/yr
Dec.: −25.850(202) mas/yr
Parallax (π)22.4986±0.1563 mas
Distance145 ± 1 ly
(44.4 ± 0.3 pc)
Details
Mass0.69+0.01
−0.02
 M
Radius0.011 R
Surface gravity (log g)8.16±0.03 cgs
Temperature6120+48
−57
 K
Age3±0.2 Gyr
Other designations
Gaia DR3 325899163483416704, 2MASS J02073383+3331296
Database references
SIMBADdata

LSPM J0207+3331 is a cold and old white dwarf that hosts a circumstellar disk, located 145 light-years from Earth. It was discovered in October 2018 by a volunteer participating in the Backyard Worlds citizen science project. Until 2021 it was the oldest and coldest white dwarf known to host a disk. The white dwarf WD 2317+1830 with a detected disk is at least twice as old and around 2,000 K colder.

The white dwarf has a radius of 0.011 R, which is about 1.2 times the radius of the earth. Because white dwarfs are such dense objects, LSPM J0207 has a mass of about 0.69 M. The presence of the Paschen Beta-Line in a near-infrared spectrum from the Keck telescope helped to determine that the atmosphere of LSPM J0207 is dominated by hydrogen (spectral type DA). Due to the inner disk around the white dwarf, it should be expected that the atmosphere has a lot of other elements and that it is a metal-polluted white dwarf. To confirm this hypothesis, it is required to take an optical spectrum of the white dwarf.