Subvention

Probing the Dynamical History of a White Dwarf Planet

This project will use JWST/MIRI and NIRSpec to measure the atmospheric abundances of the first known intact planet orbiting a white dwarf (WD 1856+534). The spectra will also be used to obtain a better estimate of the white dwarf’s cooling age which will be compared with simulations of hydrogen-helium convective mixing in white dwarfs using stellar hydrodynamics code.