The paper presents the discovery of a nearby white dwarf star, designated as WD 137, which has garnered significant attention in the astronomical community. Located approximately 27 parsecs (about 88 light-years) from Earth, WD 137 is one of the closest white dwarfs to the Sun. The authors of the paper, published in 2020, aim to characterize this star's properties, shedding light on its origin, evolution, and potential implications for our understanding of white dwarf formation and the local stellar population.

Sources:

WD 137 was initially identified as a faint, cool white dwarf candidate in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data. Follow-up observations using the Apache Point Observatory's Sloan Telescope and the MMT Telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory allowed the researchers to confirm its white dwarf nature. The star's proximity to the Sun and relatively faint magnitude (g = 19.5) made it a challenging target to study.