Don E. Winget is an American

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

and astrophysicist who studies

white dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...

stars. He is the Harlan J. Smith Centennial Professor in

Astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

and a university distinguished teaching professor at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

Research

Much of Winget's research concerns the study of

stars. Winget's doctoral research at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

predicted the existence of DBV stars, a certain class of

pulsating white dwarf A pulsating white dwarf is a white dwarf star whose luminosity variable star, varies due to non-radial gravity wave pulsations within itself. Known types of pulsating white dwarfs include DAV, or ZZ Ceti, stars, with hydrogen-dominated atmosphere ...

. After becoming a faculty member at the University of Texas, he and his colleagues discovered

GD 358 GD 358 is a variable white dwarf star of the DBV type. Like other pulsating white dwarfs, its variability arises from non-radial gravity wave pulsations within the star itself. GD 358 was discovered during the 1958–1970 Lowell ...

, a star of this class, fulfilling the prediction of his dissertation and marking the first time in which a class of

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes systematically with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are ...

s was predicted to exist before any instances of it were observed. With Ed Nather, his colleague at University of Texas, Winget introduced the technique for studying the seismology and the inner structure of white dwarfs called "

Whole Earth Telescope The Whole Earth Telescope is an international network of astronomers that collaborate to study variable stars. The distribution of the observatories in longitude allow the selected targets to be continuously monitored despite the rotation of the ...

". The technique involves coordinating a network of small telescopes around the world to capture small variations in the light output of a white dwarf caused by its seismic oscillations. One of Winget's projects involves studying white dwarfs using the Z machine pulsed-power electromagnetic wave generator at the Sandia National Lab in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Recognition

In 1983, Winget was awarded the Robert J. Trumpler Award for an outstanding doctoral dissertation by the

Astronomical Society of the Pacific The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) is an American scientific and educational organization, founded in San Francisco on February 7, 1889, immediately following the solar eclipse of January 1, 1889. Its name derives from its origins on ...

. He received the 1987 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy from the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winget, Don American astronomers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) University of Rochester alumni University of Texas at Austin faculty Recipients of the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy