How can two stars create such a strange and intricate structure? Most stars are members of multiple-star systems [ http://en.wikipedia…]. Some stars are members of close binary systems [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] where material from one star swirls around the other in an accretion disk [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Only a handful of stars, however, are members of an intermediate polar [ http://www-phys.lln…], a system featuring a white dwarf star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] with a magnetic field [ http://www-istp.gsf…] that significantly pushes out the inner accretion disk [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], only allowing material to fall down its magnetic poles. Shown above [ http://www.space-ar…] is an artist's depiction of an intermediate [ http://lheawww.gsfc…] polar [ http://lheawww.gsfc…] system, also known as a DQ Hercules [ http://www.britastr…] system. The foreground white dwarf [ http://imagine.gsfc…] is so close to the normal star that it strips away its outer atmosphere. As the white dwarf spins, the columns of infalling gas rotate with it. The name intermediate polar [ http://en.wikipedia…] derives from observations of emitted light polarized [ http://www.polariza…] at a level intermediate to non-disk binary systems known as polars [ http://www-phys.lln…]. Intermediate polars [ http://adsabs.harva…] are a type of cataclysmic variable [ http://www-phys.lln…] star system.
Explanation
How can two stars create such a strange and intricate structure? Most stars are members of multiple-star systems [ http://en.wikipedia…]. Some stars are members of close binary systems [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] where material from one star swirls around the other in an accretion disk [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Only a handful of stars, however, are members of an intermediate polar [ http://www-phys.lln…], a system featuring a white dwarf star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] with a magnetic field [ http://www-istp.gsf…] that significantly pushes out the inner accretion disk [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], only allowing material to fall down its magnetic poles. Shown above [ http://www.space-ar…] is an artist's depiction of an intermediate [ http://lheawww.gsfc…] polar [ http://lheawww.gsfc…] system, also known as a DQ Hercules [ http://www.britastr…] system. The foreground white dwarf [ http://imagine.gsfc…] is so close to the normal star that it strips away its outer atmosphere. As the white dwarf spins, the columns of infalling gas rotate with it. The name intermediate polar [ http://en.wikipedia…] derives from observations of emitted light polarized [ http://www.polariza…] at a level intermediate to non-disk binary systems known as polars [ http://www-phys.lln…]. Intermediate polars [ http://adsabs.harva…] are a type of cataclysmic variable [ http://www-phys.lln…] star system.
