Proof That White Dwarfs Can Reignite and Explode as Supernovae
New research shows without a doubt that white dwarf stars can reignite and explode as supernovae. Astronomers using ESA’s Integral gamma-ray observatory have demonstrated beyond…
White Dwarf News
A New Calibration Source for Gravitational Wave Missions
Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have detected a pair of white dwarf stars that orbit in about 20 minutes and that can be…
Calcium-Rich Supernovae Formed by Colliding White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars
A new study from astrophysicists at the University of Warwick reveals that calcium-rich supernovae are likely created by white dwarf stars crashing into neutron stars….
Newly Discovered White Dwarf Star Possibly Coldest, Dimmest Ever Detected
Using the Green Bank Telescope, Very Long Baseline Array and other observatories, astronomers have identified possibly the coldest, faintest white dwarf star ever detected. A…
Astronomers Solve Decades Old Space Mystery
An international team of astronomers has solved a decades old space mystery, revealing a new theory for how collapsed stars become polluted. Scientists from the…
Astronomers Reconstruct a Short-Lived Nova Explosion
Astronomers have reconstructed the short-lived nova explosion from white dwarf MAXI J0158−744, revealing for the first time the runaway fusion reaction that triggered the blast….
Astronomers Discover Triple System of Two White Dwarfs and Neutron Star
Using the Green Bank Telescope, astronomers have discovered a triple star system with two white dwarfs and a neutron star. Astronomers using the National Science…
Astronomers View Eclipsing Double White Dwarf System
Astronomers used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton telescope present optical and X-ray observations of two tidally distorted, extremely low-mass white dwarfs (WDs) with…
Water Discovered in Remnants of Rocky Planetary Body Outside Our Solar System
Using the Hubble Space Telescope and the large telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory, scientists have found the first evidence of a water-rich rocky…
Hubble Finds Planetary Debris Whirling Around Two White Dwarfs
The Hubble Space Telescope has detected signs of Earth-like planets in debris whirling around two white dwarfs, finding silicon in the stars’ atmospheres and detecting…
Observations of a Pulsar and Its White Dwarf Companion Back General Theory of Relativity
Observations of a newly discovered pulsar and its white dwarf companion, orbiting each other once every two and a half hours, show that the binary’s…
JWST Should be Able to Detect Biomarkers in Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs
In a new study, researchers suggest that white dwarfs can still support habitable planets, demonstrating that the James Webb Space Telescope, set to be launched…
Evidence of Extraterrestrial Life Might Come From Planets Orbiting White Dwarfs
In a new study, researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics suggest that future evidence for extraterrestrial life might come from planets orbiting dying stars…
Study Models Conditions Near to the Surface of a White Dwarf Star
In a newly published study, a team of scientists from the University of Cambridge recreated the conditions found on the surface of a white dwarf,…
Pair of Eclipsing White Dwarfs Produce Gravitational Waves
Discovered last year in system J0651, two white dwarf stars are so close together that they make a complete orbit in less than 13 minutes…
Study Confirms Two Different Sources for Type Ia Supernovae
A newly published study from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics details two models supporting the origin of Type Ia supernovae, finding that both the…
Possible Death of Solar System Seen in White Dwarf Stars
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have been able to probe into the chemical signatures of dusky disks encircling four distant star systems. They discovered…
Origins of Type Ia Supernovae
While studying SN 2011fe and using X-ray and ultraviolet observations from NASA’s Swift satellite, researchers were able to provide new insights into the origins of…
