Can we see dead stars with the naked eye?

We find out the answer to this intriguing question

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White dwarfs, like those that can be found at the centre of colourful planetary nebula, are impossible to see with the naked eye. Image Credit: NASA

White dwarfs, like those that can be found at the centre of colourful planetary nebula, are impossible to see with the naked eye. Image Credit: NASA

Asked by Marie Canning

Sadly not. When a star runs out of fuel that perpetuates nuclear fusion. It can ‘die’ in three ways in the form of a white dwarf, a black hole or neutron star. Black holes don’t emit light and neutron stars are too small, meaning that it’s impossible to see either of these types of ‘dead’ star. This leaves us with the white dwarfs – the endpoint of a red giant star that has puffed off its outer layers. You still won’t be able to see the brightest white dwarf we know of with the naked eye though, since it glows dimly at a magnitude of +8.3 and is locked in a binary system with the brightest star in Earth’s night sky, Sirius A.

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