Buoyant crystals halt the cooling of white dwarf stars. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38448597/)

These scientists studied white dwarfs, which are old stars that have run out of fuel and are cooling down. They found a group of white dwarfs that stay bright for a really long time, even though they should be getting dimmer. This suggests there is a mysterious energy source keeping them bright.

The scientists discovered that these white dwarfs have a special process happening inside them called distillation. This process causes the solid part of the star to separate from the liquid part, creating crystals that float up and release energy. This distillation process stops the stars from cooling down for billions of years.

This study helps us understand why these white dwarfs stay bright for so long and challenges what we thought we knew about these old stars. It also tells us more about how stars form and age, which can help us learn more about the universe.

Bedard A., Blouin S., Cheng S. Buoyant crystals halt the cooling of white dwarf stars. Nature. 2024 Mar 6. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07102-y.