Yes, that's precisely what I related, Erik. The planetary is short-lived and the white dwarf outlives it by billions of years. "Outlives" is a poor descriptive word; a white dwarf is a dead star. "Outlasts" might be better. That said, I'm not going to argue it further, but I will maintain that Roy Bishop is essentially correct. His example is the only easily observed, obvious, fairly bright example, without resorting to a large telescope. Again, one can argue what a "large" telescope is. Remember that Bishop is Canadian, and a "small" telescope in Canada may be considered "extremely small" by American standards. On Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 4:37 PM, <zaurak@digis.net> wrote:
Hi Chuck,
I am far from expert, but that seem contrary to what Professor Ryden (Ohio State) says. She indicates the White Dwarf outlives the planetary nebula.