How does the mass and density of a white dwarf compare to the star it originated from?
Answer
It contains about half the original mass packed into a volume the size of Earth
A white dwarf is an incredibly dense object. It represents the remnants of the original star's core, usually containing roughly half of the mass of the parent star. This massive amount of matter is compressed into a volume comparable to that of the Earth. Because this density is so high and the fusion process has ceased, the white dwarf acts as a hot, cooling ember rather than an active star producing energy through nuclear reactions.
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