Doomed Stellar Duo Found Just 150 Light-Years Away May One Day Explode

By Tristan Dan Silva, Nogales Daily Democrat – 5 April 2025

Photograph courtesy of Wix Images.

Astronomers have uncovered a dramatic cosmic dance unfolding alarmingly close to Earth — at least in astronomical terms. A pair of tightly bound white dwarf stars, located just 150 light-years away, are spiraling toward each other in a slow-motion collision that’s predicted to end in a cataclysmic supernova.

Discovered by a team at the University of Warwick, the star system, named WDJ1810+3119, is among the few known double white dwarf binaries destined to explode. The two dead stars orbit so closely that their mutual gravity is pulling them ever inward, sealing their fate in what astronomers expect will be a Type Ia supernova — one of the universe’s most powerful explosions.

A Future Explosion in the Making

Although the explosive finale won’t occur for another 23 billion years, the system’s existence provides crucial insight into how these rare cosmic events form. White dwarfs are the compact remnants left behind when stars like our Sun exhaust their fuel. In this case, both stars in the pair have already reached that final stage and are locked in a fatal orbit just one-sixtieth the distance between Earth and the Sun.

“WDJ1810+3119 is a textbook example of a future Type Ia supernova system,” researchers explained. “It’s rare to find such systems this close to Earth, and it gives us a front-row seat to watch how these binaries evolve.”

Why It Matters

Type Ia supernovae are not only scientifically fascinating but also incredibly useful. Their uniform brightness makes them excellent cosmic yardsticks — astronomers use them to measure vast distances across space and even to track the expansion rate of the universe. However, scientists have long debated what kind of systems lead to these explosions. The discovery of WDJ1810+3119 offers compelling evidence that some of these supernovae are caused by the merging of two white dwarfs.

A Rare and Valuable Find

The discovery was made through careful analysis of data from space- and ground-based telescopes. With a combined mass exceeding 1.5 times that of our Sun, the two stars meet the critical threshold needed to trigger a thermonuclear explosion — but only after they slowly spiral together over billions of years.

Although humanity won’t be around to witness the final blast, the system is already proving valuable. It gives astronomers a nearby example to study and model, helping refine our understanding of stellar death and the life cycles of galaxies. “This system is doomed, but in its doom, it teaches us,” one of the astronomers said.

Still Time on the Clock

Photograph courtesy of Malvestida via Unsplash

For now, the stars continue their slow gravitational waltz. With billions of years to go, there’s no risk to Earth — just a fascinating glimpse at the long-term consequences of celestial physics playing out in our own corner of the Milky Way.

Reference

Munday, J. et al. (2025) ‘A super-Chandrasekhar mass type Ia supernova progenitor at 49 pc set to detonate in 23 Gyr’, Nature Astronomy. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02528-4 (Accessed: 5 April 2025).

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