White dwarf

December 14th 2025

This Star Is Being Eaten Alive—and Its Explosive Death Will Be Visible in Broad Daylight

Researchers have figured out why V Sagittae is so gosh dang bright.

Space & Spaceflight Margherita Bassi Dec 14

August 2nd 2024

‘Blaze Star’ Set to Ignite the Night Sky Any Day Now

A nearby star system, teetering on the edge of a spectacular explosion, promises a rare cosmic show that’ll be visible to the naked eye.

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Aug 2

January 11th 2024

Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, Leah Hustak (STScI)

Webb Telescope Finds What May Be a Glowing Aurora on a Failed Star

Astronomers are trying to figure out how an isolated brown dwarf could produce such a phenomenon.

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz Jan 11

August 14th 2023

Illustration: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld/Acknowledgement: William Pendrill

Astronomers Spot a Massive Brown Dwarf Hotter Than the Sun

The object has a surface temperature 38% hotter than our host star.

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz Aug 14

February 2nd 2023

Image: NASA, ESA, P. McGill (Univ. of California, Santa Cruz and University of Cambridge), K. Sahu (STScI), J. Depasquale (STScI)

Hubble Telescope Directly Measures a White Dwarf Mass for the First Time

The white dwarf is the dead core of a star that burned out a billion years ago.

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz Feb 2

May 6th 2022

In This Outer Range Finale Clip, We Finally Learn the Hole Truth

Josh Brolin's character also reveals his own mysterious past in this crucial scene from the Prime Video sci-fi series.

Television Cheryl Eddy May 6

February 14th 2022

Astronomers Find ‘Weird’ Stars Covered in Burned-Up Helium

The rare objects may be the result of unusual stellar mergers.

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz Feb 14

November 23rd 2021

Illustration: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick

This Earth-Sized Star Rotates Once Every 25 Seconds

A white dwarf star is flinging material from its companion as it spins a record-breaking speed.

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz Nov 23

November 13th 2021

How Do We Know When the Sun Will Die?

Our star has an expiration date. But how can we be sure it's not any time soon?

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz Nov 13

October 22nd 2021

Image: NASA, ESA, Ryan Foley (UC Santa Cruz), Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Observations of Exploding Star in ‘Real Time’ Deemed a Major Step Towards Predicting Supernovas

Astronomers are calling it the “Rosetta Stone of supernovas,” as it could lead to an early warning system for doomed stars.

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Oct 22

August 5th 2021

This Blasted Star Is Getting the Hell Out of the Milky Way

An ancient explosion sent a white dwarf star speeding through the galaxy.

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz Aug 5

July 1st 2021

Astronomers Found an Ultra-Dense White Star the Size of Our Moon

The object is the smallest white dwarf ever recorded—but, counterintuitively, it's also the most massive.

Space & Spaceflight Isaac Schultz Jul 1

June 23rd 2021

Warhammer+ Is Already the Best Streaming Service, Because None of the Other Pluses Come With a Free Orc

The Mandalorian? Star Trek: Discovery? Ted Lasso? NONE OF THESE ARE ORCS, GET OUT.

io9 James Whitbrook Jun 23

June 14th 2021

Image: Amanda Smith, University of Cambridge

Gigantic ‘Blinking’ Star Presents a Cosmic Mystery

The star got so dim that it practically vanished from view.

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Jun 14

April 7th 2021

A Trio of Extreme Brown Dwarfs Have Been Found Spinning at Their Physical Limits

New research documents the fastest-spinning brown dwarfs on record. The objects are rotating so rapidly that, should they rotate any faster, they’d likely tear themselves apart. The finding could mean that these so-called “failed stars” have a built-in speed limit. The three brown dwarfs are spinning 10 times faster than Jupiter, completing a single rotation…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Apr 7

February 24th 2021

We’re Absolutely Surrounded by Double Stars, New 3D Map Suggests

A newly compiled 3D map has revealed more than 1 million binary star pairs located within 3,000 light years of Earth, highlighting the ubiquity of these celestial objects. Remember that sublime moment in Star Wars when an introspective Luke Skywalker gazes upon a double sunset on Tatooine? To our eyes, that’s some seriously exotic stuff,…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Feb 24

January 9th 2020

If You Make It to 2083, You Could Witness Two Stars Collide

Scientists have predicted that a pair of stars in our galaxy will collide, producing an explosion that will temporarily become one of the brightest objects in the night sky. They don’t know exactly when it will happen, but they estimate it will be later this century. V Sagittae is an unassuming and faint pair of…

Space & Spaceflight Ryan F. Mandelbaum Jan 9

February 9th 2017

Some Asshole Star Just Ripped Apart Halley’s Comet’s Brother

Here’s your daily reminder that the final frontier is ruthless: For the first time ever, scientists have spotted a comet-like object getting torn apart by a white dwarf star. Thankfully, this pugnacious little star—called WD 1425+540—is located 170 lightyears away from Earth in the constellation Boötes, which may or may not be a piece of…

Space & Spaceflight Rae Paoletta Feb 9

April 19th 2015

This Image May Suggest The Destructive Powers Of A White Dwarf Star

This stunning Chandra image of ngc6388 suggests that “a white dwarf star may have ripped apart a planet as it came too close.” More from NASA (and even more info here): When a star reaches its white dwarf stage, nearly all of the material from the star is packed inside a radius one hundredth that…

io9 Cheryl Eddy Apr 19

August 27th 2014

Now We Know What Makes White Dwarf Stars Go Supernova

What makes a dead star explode? Scientists have long suspected a mechanism for making a white dwarf go supernova, but they weren’t able to confirm it — until now. ESA recently trained its INTEGRAL observatory on an exploding supernova in the M82 galaxy, and were able to catch it in the act as it threw…

io9 Ria Misra Aug 27

White dwarf

This Star Is Being Eaten Alive—and Its Explosive Death Will Be Visible in Broad Daylight

‘Blaze Star’ Set to Ignite the Night Sky Any Day Now

Webb Telescope Finds What May Be a Glowing Aurora on a Failed Star

Astronomers Spot a Massive Brown Dwarf Hotter Than the Sun

Hubble Telescope Directly Measures a White Dwarf Mass for the First Time

In This Outer Range Finale Clip, We Finally Learn the Hole Truth

Astronomers Find ‘Weird’ Stars Covered in Burned-Up Helium

This Earth-Sized Star Rotates Once Every 25 Seconds

How Do We Know When the Sun Will Die?

Observations of Exploding Star in ‘Real Time’ Deemed a Major Step Towards Predicting Supernovas

This Blasted Star Is Getting the Hell Out of the Milky Way

Astronomers Found an Ultra-Dense White Star the Size of Our Moon

Warhammer+ Is Already the Best Streaming Service, Because None of the Other Pluses Come With a Free Orc

Gigantic ‘Blinking’ Star Presents a Cosmic Mystery

A Trio of Extreme Brown Dwarfs Have Been Found Spinning at Their Physical Limits

We’re Absolutely Surrounded by Double Stars, New 3D Map Suggests

If You Make It to 2083, You Could Witness Two Stars Collide

Some Asshole Star Just Ripped Apart Halley’s Comet’s Brother

This Image May Suggest The Destructive Powers Of A White Dwarf Star

Now We Know What Makes White Dwarf Stars Go Supernova

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