One Side of This White Dwarf is Covered in Hydrogen While the Other Side is Helium. - by briankoberlein
Sunlike stars and those smaller than the Sun end their lives as white dwarfs. Without a continued source of energy from hydrogen fusion, these stars eventually collapse under their own weight. They would continue collapsing were it not for the pressure of electrons. As long as the remaining mass of a star is, the electron pressure and gravitational pull will balance each other, creating a white dwarf.
White dwarfs are only about as big as the Earth, but they have a star’s-worth of mass, so their surface gravity is very strong. As a result, the elements inside a white dwarf tend to settle so that the heaviest elements sink, pushing the lightest elements to the surface. This means that most white dwarfs have a surface of either pure hydrogen or pure helium, though some have an “exposed” surface of carbon or oxygen. But astronomers have recently found an unusual white dwarf that is two-faced.
It’s known as ZTF 203349.8+322901.1, and the team first noticed it while searching for highly magnetized white dwarfs with the Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar Observatory. It was fluctuating in brightness with a period of about 15 minutes. Highly magnetized white dwarfs often have brightness fluctuations, but not at a regular pace. Further observations confirmed the star was rotating, with one side brighter than the other. The team then made spectral observations of ZTF 203349.8+322901.
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