White Dwarf

space · dense · star evolution · extreme

Packed with mass. A white dwarf is so dense that a teaspoon of its material would weigh as much as an elephant! All that stuff gets squeezed into a space about the size of Earth.

Glowing leftover. White dwarfs don't make energy like living stars do, instead, they slowly cool down and glow from leftover heat, kind of like coals in a dying fire.

Star's final chapter. When stars like our Sun run out of fuel billions of years from now, they'll eventually become white dwarfs, leaving behind these super-dense cosmic embers.

Closest one nearby. The nearest white dwarf to Earth is called Sirius B, which is only 8.6 light years away and orbits around the bright star Sirius.