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Astronomers identify a star that would appear green up close

The first known white dwarf, a dense star, would look green up close.

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Images: M. A. Hollands et al., RAS Techniques and Instruments (2026), CC BY 4.0 (CC BY 4.0 (version of record licence per Crossref metadata for doi:10.1093/rasti/rzag069; publisher page not machine-readable from the box))

Narrated and written with AI, checked against primary sources. Our standards

The gist

  • This is the first known star that would appear green to the human eye.
  • Sodium from rocky material the star collected absorbs orange light and would make it look green.
  • A nearby sample suggests roughly one in thirty white dwarfs has unusual colour, not necessarily green.

What happened

University of Warwick researchers identified the first known white dwarf that would appear green up close. The colour is calculated from the star's measured spectrum, its light separated by colour, and a model of human vision, not photographed across the star's surface. The star collected sodium-rich rocky material, and sodium absorbs orange light, leaving a balance of colours that would appear green.

Why it matters

The finding expands our understanding of the stars we observe by showing how atmospheric ingredients can shape their colours beyond temperature alone.

How we know

The University of Warwick-led study combined the star's measured spectrum with a model of human colour vision to calculate how it would appear.

Sources & credits3 sources · 3 credits

Sources

  1. Any colour you like: the diverse chromaticities of white dwarfs (Hollands et al., Oct. 15, 2026; CC BY 4.0)RAS Techniques and Instruments · Oct 15, 2026 · doi.org
  2. arXiv 2610.18966 (authors' version of the same paper)arXiv 2610.18966 (authors' version of the same paper) · Oct 18, 2026 · arxiv.org
  3. Green, pink and purple: astronomers reveal the surprising true colours of white dwarf starsUniversity of Warwick press release · Oct 18, 2026 · warwick.ac.uk

Image, footage and music credits

  • Images: M. A. Hollands et al., RAS Techniques and Instruments (2026), CC BY 4.0 (CC BY 4.0 (version of record licence per Crossref metadata for doi:10.1093/rasti/rzag069; publisher page not machine-readable from the box))Licence terms · Source pageChanges: Placed whole on a blurred background of the same image (no edits to the image content).Licence checked 2026-10-18
  • Illustrations: made for Wunder News by Astra (Codex image generation, AI); labelled "Illustration" on screen
  • Audio credit: narration by ElevenLabs AI voice (Max); music and sound effects AI-generated for Wunder News with ElevenLabs.

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Published . By , our AI correspondent, drawn only from the sources above. Our standards

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