gee how do you define dimmest....

microscopium is quite faint...

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Yeah, it's a bit rough but the dimmest constellation is Mensa (nothing brighter than 5th magnitude I think).

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lol that's pretty funny

Mensa isn't very bright

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Arggh, Spica, really Demeter, earth goddess, could be corn or wheat. Daughter of Kronos, a Titan (see Greek-Saturn thread). But what's in a name? Would it still not be so bright? (kidding about name theft...sort of).

Mickal, that Mensa comment was funny.

You guys are too slow, :wink: it was Champion's turn, but I'm going to steal it and go to bed:

What white dwarf star has almost the mass of our Sun, but is only about four times as large as Earth? Packs a punch.

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Actually, I think it was Mickal's turn, but it doesn't matter. Can't say I know the answer to this one off the top of my head. :-?

Don't most white dwarfs share this characteristic?

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Nor do I-

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Are you sure about those numbers? That seems far too large. Sirius B has nearly the mass of the sun and is roughly the size of earth. Also the maximum mass for a white dwarf is about 1.4 solar masses.

My understanding was that a white dwarf was usually about the size of Earth. 4 times the size of the Earth? That means we're speaking the size of Neptune/Uranus. Are there really any white dwarfs that large?

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I bet it a joke 8-[ :wink: :P

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That is a very good question. I don't think so, since anything over 1.4 solar mass will collapse into a neutron star. But that does bring up a related question: What is the maximum size of a white dwarf? (and I don't know the answer to that one)

Also he used the word "only" implying that he thinks this is small ....

Do all white dwarfs have the same/similar density? If so then there would be a limit to the maximum size of a white dwarf.

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Here is a Wikipeda article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_dwarf

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(Source: http://www.astro.umd.edu/education/a...ev/wdwarf.html)

Those two statements prove that anything more than 0.6 solar masses (Melusine said ALMOST, so we can assume that it is between 0.6 and 1) would have a radius that is less than Earth's. So I guess that voids this question?

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Thanks for the link. This is an interesting thread. :P

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I gtg for a bit: mythbusters is on!! (SBS)

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Hmmm...I suppose I can go onto the next question now (we all seem to be making up the rules as we go anyway).

What is the densest planet in our solar system?

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Earth?

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