Astronomers spot white dwarf star creating a colorful shockwave

Astronomers have observed a white dwarf – a highly compact Earth-sized stellar ember – that is creating a colorful shockwave as it moves through space, leaving them searching for an explanation.

The highly magnetized white dwarf is gravitationally bound to another star in what is called a binary system. The white dwarf is siphoning gas from its companion as the two orbit close to each other. The system is located in the Milky Way about 730 light-years from Earth – relatively nearby in cosmic terms – in the constellation Auriga.