Astronomers report the finding of a unique new object that doesn’t fit with categories that were only established in the last few years. They have observed an ultra-massive white dwarf with an outer layer of hydrogen and helium, 10 million times thinner than other white dwarfs. This object is believed to be the product of a past merger event. The name given to it is WD 0525+526. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

White dwarfs are the end product of stars like our Sun or those that are up to a few times its mass. They are not heavy enough to go supernova, so once they finish burning the hydrogen in their core, they will swell up into red giants and fuse helium. Eventually, they will run out of helium to fuse too. Their ou

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