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This absolutely gorgeous image from the European Southern Observatory reveals a planetary nebula, the short-lived phenomenon between the death of a star and birth of a white dwarf that has nothing to do with planets. More »
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What is this strange astronomical formation? A more fanciful interpretation is that it's a vast cosmic eye, but then its official designation - planetary nebula - isn't much more helpful, considering it's neither a planet nor even really a nebula. More »
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In 185 CE, Chinese astronomers reported the presence of an incredibly bright "guest star" that appeared suddenly in the sky and stayed there for months. This was the first recorded supernova...and astronomers are only now understanding what it really is. More »
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Imagine a hot summer day in the middle of the desert. That temperature might be dangerously hot here on Earth, but it's almost impossibly cold for any star. But that's the rather pathetic situation for a newly discovered brown dwarf. More »
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The whole point of white dwarfs is that they're the remains of stars not big enough to go supernova. Or so we thought. Many of these stars are held together by their super-fast spins... and slowing down could mean an explosion. More »
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This tiny white dwarf and the shell of gas that surrounds it was once a star very much like our Sun, and the gas is positioned just right so that it looks like a faint, glowing ring in space. More »
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NLTT 43806 is a white dwarf, the dying remnants of a star like our own. But there's a problem. Its composition doesn't make any sense...unless there was a cataclysm just like the one Earth experienced four billion years ago. More »
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Over a thousand light-years from Earth, there are two white dwarfs, the ghostly remnants of stars much like our Sun. But these stars aren't ordinary white dwarfs, and their bizarre composition reveals a long, passive-aggressive history of mutually assured destruction. More »
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White dwarfs are the ultra-dense husks of stars like our own, dying remnants that are just a pale shadow of their former glory. But when two white dwarfs come together, they can create something very special: a brand new star. More »
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In the search for Earth-like worlds, astronomers look for conditions that are roughly the same as those on our planet. But the assumption that most Earth-like planets will be found around stars like our Sun might not necessarily be true. More »
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It's the final hours for the Hourglass Nebula, as the central star runs out of nuclear fuel and becomes a white dwarf. And wow, don't those dying embers look like an unblinking gaze of evil? More »
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Novas are explosions on the surface of white dwarf stars. They're the little siblings of supernovas, lasting mere days and emitting far less energy — but apparently still enough energy to emit gamma rays, in a development that's baffled astrophysicists. More »
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The Chandrasekhar Limit lets astronomers know which stars will end with a bang, and which stars will end with a whimper. More »
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Rings of debris from shattered asteroids and Earth-like planets orbit many white dwarf stars - their remains testimony to how common Earth-like bodies really are in space. More »
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