The Solar System is surrounded by a colorful array of stellar neighbors. Within about 30 light years of here, there are 74 main sequence stars, 284 red dwarf stars and 21 white dwarfs.
These stars are attractive targets for exoplanet hunters because, being so close, they are relatively easy to study. Indeed, astronomers have found planetary systems around 60 of them.
However, most of these are around main sequence stars and red dwarfs. By contrast, only a handful of exoplanets have ever been found around white dwarfs. That’s because the main planet finding techniques do not work well for these stars.
So astronomers would dearly love to have another way to look for exoplanets around white dwarfs, particular those 21 neighbors that are tantalizingly close.
Now Mary Anne Limbach at Texas A&M University at College Station and colleagues have developed an entirely new way to find exoplanets orbiting white dwarfs ...
