News Astronomy

A rare collision of dead stars can bring a new one to life

Despite surfaces covered in carbon and oxygen, helium still burns in the stars’ cores

illustration of two white dwarf stars merging

A carbon-and-oxygen-rich star with a helium-burning core may rise out of the merging of two dead stars called white dwarfs (illustrated).

Nicole Reindl (CC BY 4.0)

By Nikk Ogasa

- More than 2 years ago

Like a phoenix, some stars may burst to life covered in “ash,” rising from the remains of stars that had previously passed on.