Studies of White Dwarf Stars and Related Objects

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The end stage in the evolution of stars of moderate mass (less than ca. 6 time the mass of the sun when they are born) are white dwarfs. They are stars with masses comparable to that of the sun, but sizes like that of the earth. The end stage in the evolution of starlike objects with masses roughly equal to or somewhat less than 1/100 that of the sun are brown dwarfs. They are objects that never developed sufficiently severe conditions in their cores to ignite their nuclear fuel. The Principal Investigator proposes to study observationally both kinds of stars in order to get a better understanding of their structure, composition, evolution, mass gains and losses, and distribution in our Galaxy.