* Astronomy

Judi Provencal is star-struck, but not so much by the glitz and glam of Hollywood.
You have to look heavenward through a telescope to see the object of her fascination--to pale stars called white dwarfs, their brilliance faded because all of their nuclear fuel has been burned up.
A white dwarf is a star that is dying, cooling down in the twilight of its life. It's what the sun will become in about 4 billion years, according to Provencal.
Starting Wednesday, March 26, Provencal--who is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Delaware, director of the Delaware Asteroseismic Research Centre (DARC), and resident astronomer at Mt. Cuba Astronomical Observatory in Greenville, Del.--will be coordinating some of the world's largest telescopes in a three-week-long international observing run, focusing on a white dwarf known as IU Vir in the constellation Virgo.



IU Virginis.kmz

Position(2000): RA 14 03 57.2 Dec -15 01 10

Magnitude: V 15.50
Spectral type: DA
Pulsating White Dwarf

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