A star long thought to be an ordinary white dwarf has been discovered in space, but it has an incredible history. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have found that the white dwarf, named WD 0525+526, was not formed as a result of the natural development of a single star, but from the collision and merger of two stars. It is located 128 light-years away and initially did not differ from other white dwarfs. But observations have shown an unusually high amount of carbon in its atmosphere, which is a clear indication of its turbulent past.
White dwarfs are usually dense bodies formed in the final stages of the life of stars. They are similar in size to Earth, but contain 1.4 times the mass of the Sun. However, WD 0525+526 is an exception: it was born from a stellar collision. Co-author of the study, Professor Boris Gensike, emphasizes: "This star seemed to us to be an ordinary white dwarf, but Hubble revealed that it had a completely different past."
