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Warwick Astronomers Find Green-Glowing White Dwarf From Spectra

By Drooid · Oct 16, 2026, 10:59 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

University of Warwick astronomers identified white dwarf WD J1330+6435 as appearing green.
The star lies about 326 light-years from Earth and contains sodium, calcium and lithium.
Sodium absorption removes orange, yellow and red light, leaving a chartreuse-green glow in human-vision models.
Researchers flagged WD J1011+2845, 48 light-years away, as possibly the reddest star, appearing salmon-pink.
The green hue was inferred from the star’s spectrum because no telescope directly observed it.

History

Historical Context

In 1915, Walter Adams at Harvard College Observatory confirmed Sirius B as the first recognized white dwarf, revealing its extreme density. Sirius B, orbiting the bright star Sirius A 8.6 light-years from Earth, packed 1 solar mass into a volume comparable to Earth’s, a density of roughly 2 × 106 kg m?³. Similarly, Warwick astronomers now infer the green hue of white dwarf WD J1330+6435 326 light-years away by modeling sodium absorption that strips red wavelengths. These spectral analyses extend the legacy of early white-dwarf studies, promising refined stellar composition models and guiding future telescopic missions.

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Story summary

University of Warwick astronomers identified white dwarf WD J1330+6435 as appearing green.
The star lies about 326 light-years from Earth and contains sodium, calcium and lithium.
Sodium absorption removes orange, yellow and red light, leaving a chartreuse-green glow in human-vision models.
Researchers flagged WD J1011+2845, 48 light-years away, as possibly the reddest star, appearing salmon-pink.
The green hue was inferred from the star’s spectrum because no telescope directly observed it.

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