| Sifting through these observations, they were able to detect the white dwarf orbiting the pulsar and measure its color and temperature. |
| These explosions are called novae, and the white dwarf star will brighten significantly as seen from the Earth. |
| The composition of the stars does not fit into any currently known class of white dwarf stars, so their evolution remains a mystery. |
| The usual model for these events is that a white dwarf star is gaining mass by accretion from a companion. |
| But quantum theory said that there is a way to make a star denser than a white dwarf. |
| The companion star of this system is a white dwarf roughly the size of the earth. |
