Two-faced star exposed: Unusual white dwarf with a hydrogen side and a helium side

Read more at In this video: This artist’s animation shows the two-faced white dwarf nicknamed Janus rotating on its axis. The blue-tinted dead cinder of a star, which was once a star like our sun, is composed primarily of hydrogen on one side and helium on the other (the hydrogen side appears brighter). The peculiar double-faced nature of this white dwarf might be due to the interplay of magnetic fields and convection, or a mixing of materials. On the helium side, which appears bubbly, convection has destroyed the thin hydrogen layer on the surface and brought up the helium underneath. The white dwarf’s rotation has been sped up in this animation; normally, it rotates around its axis every 15 minutes. Credit: K. Miller, Caltech/IPAC Subscribe: Join Science X channel to support our mission: Thank you for helping our YouTube channel reach new heights! Hitting subscribe aids us in our mission to bring you the latest and greatest research news in science, medicine and technology.