White dwarf

One Side of This White Dwarf is Covered in Hydrogen While the Other Side is Helium.

Here's a new one. Astronomers have found a white dwarf star - the dead remnant from a main sequence star…

1 year ago

A White Dwarf is Starting to Crystallize into Diamond

White dwarfs are the stellar remnants of stars like our Sun. They're strange objects, and astrophysicists think their cores can…

1 year ago

A White Dwarf is Surrounded by Torn-up Pieces of its Inner Planets and its Kuiper Belt

What will happen to our Sun? In several billion years, it'll cease fusion, shrivel into a white dwarf, and emanate…

2 years ago

Astronomers Spot the Debris From Planets That Formed 10 Billion Years ago

Astronomers find the remnants of ancient planetary systems, and a glimpse of our fate.

2 years ago

A Dying Star’s Last Act was to Destroy all Its Planets

When white dwarfs go wild, their planets suffer through the resulting chaos. The evidence shows up later in and around…

2 years ago

Astronomers Finally Catch a Nova Detonating on a White Dwarf as it's Happening

On July 7, 2020, the X-ray instrument eROSITA captured an astronomical event that – until then – had only been…

2 years ago

If There are Dyson Spheres Around White Dwarfs, We Should be Able to Detect Them

Searching for Dyson spheres, rings, or swarms remains a preoccupation of many astronomers.  If there are any out there, they…

2 years ago

A New Kind of Stellar Explosion Has Been Discovered: Micronovae

The most energetic explosions in the Universe come from stars called supernovae. These galactic bombs have the energy of about…

2 years ago

Planet Found in the Habitable Zone of a White Dwarf

Most stars will end their lives as white dwarfs. White dwarfs are the remnant cores of once-luminous stars like our…

3 years ago

Astronomers see Dead Planets Crashing Into Dead Stars

Some planets end by colliding with the remnant of their once shining star.

3 years ago