NASA’s Hubble Uncovers Rare White Dwarf Merger Remnant

This is an illustration of a white dwarf star merging into a red giant star. A bow shock forms as the dwarf plunges through the star’s outer atmosphere. The passage strips down the white dwarf’s outer layers, exposing an interior carbon core. Artwork: NASA, ESA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

An international team of astronomers has discovered a cosmic rarity: an ultra-massive white dwarf star resulting from a white dwarf merging with another star, rather than through the evolution of a single star. This discovery, made by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope ’s sensitive ultraviolet observations, suggests these rare white dwarfs may be more common than previously suspected.

“It's a discovery that underlines things may be different from what they appear to us at first glance,” said the princ