The Puzzling White Dwarf Cooling Sequence in NGC 6791: A Simple Solution

Bedin, L. R.; Salaris, M.; Piotto, G.; Cassisi, S.; Milone, A. P.; Anderson, J.; King, I. R.
Bibliographical reference

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 679, Issue 1, pp. L29-L32.

Advertised on:
5
2008
Number of authors
7
IAC number of authors
0
Citations
65
Refereed citations
56
Description
In this Letter we demonstrate that the puzzling bright peak in the luminosity function of the white dwarf (WD) cooling sequence of NGC 6791 can be naturally accounted for if ~34% of the observed WDs are WD+WD binary systems. Based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.
Type