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NASA's IXPE Reveals Secrets of Distant White Dwarf EX Hydrae

1/7/2026

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Summary

Story summary

NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer (IXPE) studied the white dwarf EX Hydrae, about 200 light-years away in Hydra, marking IXPE's first X-ray polarization study of a white dwarf.
MIT scientists led the research, revealing how matter behaves where gravity and magnetism interact.
IXPE observed EX Hydrae for nearly a week and revealed details of its accretion disk, with findings published in the Astrophysical Journal.

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Story summary

NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarization Explorer (IXPE) studied the white dwarf EX Hydrae, about 200 light-years away in Hydra, marking IXPE's first X-ray polarization study of a white dwarf.
MIT scientists led the research, revealing how matter behaves where gravity and magnetism interact.
IXPE observed EX Hydrae for nearly a week and revealed details of its accretion disk, with findings published in the Astrophysical Journal.