The American Astronomical Society recently featured UNC Physics and Astronomy postdoctoral associate and Hubble Fellow J.J. Hermes‘ research surrounding a newly discovered white dwarf. Designated SDSSJ0837+1856, the white dwarf is “unusually massive,” and its uniqueness allows study of the rotation of intermediate-mass stars such as the progenitor star from which it originated In findings released by a team led by Hermes, Kepler K2 observations yielded measurements that indicate that this white dwarf is the “highest-mass and fastest-rotating isolated pulsating white dwarf known.”
The complete AAS article can be found here.