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http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/05/space.star.reut/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/05/space.star.reut/index.html
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...smaller of two stars gave so much to its larger companion that it reached a dead end, and scientists ...haven't seen anything like it.
Doomed to orbit its more energetic partner for millions of years, the burned-out star has lost so much mass that it can no longer sustain nuclear fusion at its core and has become a new, indeterminate stellar object...
"Now the donor star has reached a dead end -- it is far too massive to be considered a super-planet, its composition does not match known brown dwarfs, and it is far too low in mass to be a star...There's no true category for an object in such limbo."
The binary system EF Eridanus is made up of a recipient, a faint white dwarf star -- a sunlike star that has progressed to the final phase of its life -- and the donor object, which has about one-twentieth of our sun's mass.
The classification of stars is based on their spectral characteristics, such as their temperature, luminosity, and chemical composition. These factors can be determined through the analysis of a star's spectrum.
There are seven main classes of stars, which are further divided into subcategories. The main classes are O, B, A, F, G, K, and M, with O being the hottest and most massive stars and M being the coolest and least massive.
Classifying stars allows scientists to better understand the properties and behavior of different types of stars. It also helps in identifying patterns and relationships between stars, which can lead to a deeper understanding of the universe.
As stars age and evolve, they can change their classification as their physical characteristics, such as temperature and luminosity, change. For example, a star may start off as an O-type star and eventually become a cooler, red giant star in the M class.
While the majority of stars can be classified using the standard system, there are some peculiar objects that do not fit into any of the established classes. These include brown dwarfs, which have characteristics of both stars and planets, and neutron stars, which have characteristics of their own and do not fit into any of the main classes.