Discovery of Molecular Hydrogen in White Dwarf Atmospheres
Koester, D.; Zuckerman, B.; Xu, S.; Klein, B.; Jura, M.
United States, Germany
Abstract
With the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope, we have detected molecular hydrogen in the atmospheres of three white dwarfs with effective temperatures below 14,000 K, G29-38, GD 133, and GD 31. This discovery provides new independent constraints on the stellar temperature and surface gravity of white dwarfs.