Skip to main content

This vampire star is feeding on its companion to create a ‘super-outburst’

Astronomers have spotted a “vampire star,” feeding on one of its brethren in a dwarf nova. A nova is an event marked by the sudden appearance of a bight, seemingly new star, which fades over a period of weeks or months. Traditional novae consist of a white dwarf feeding on a companion star, typically a main sequence, subgiant, or red giant star. As the white dwarf absorbs matter from its companion, gas begins to fall onto the white dwarf’s surface to create an atmosphere which is heated and begins to glow when fusion occurs.

What is unusual about this particular dwarf nova is that the white dwarf is feeding on one of its own, a brown dwarf. “The rare event we found was a super-outburst from the dwarf nova, which can be thought of as a vampire star system,” lead researcher Ryan Ridden-Harper of the Australian National University said in a statement. He and his colleagues discovered the event when pouring over data from the archive of the decommissioned Kepler Space Telescope.

An artist's impression of a vampire system.
An artist’s impression of a vampire system. NASA and L. Hustak (STSci)

“The incredible data from Kepler reveals a 30-day period during which the dwarf nova rapidly became 1,600 times brighter before dimming quickly and gradually returning to its normal brightness,” Ridden-Harper said. “The spike in brightness was caused by material stripped from the brown dwarf that’s being coiled around the white dwarf in a disk. That disk reached up to 11,700 degrees Celsius [21,092 degrees Fahrenheit] at the peak of the super-outburst.”

Recommended Videos

“The discovery of this dwarf nova was unexpected since it wasn’t what we were searching for, but it provided excellent data and new insights into these vampire star systems.”

To discover more about these vampire systems, the team wants to look at more data from the Kepler archive and from other sources like currently active telescopes. “The next steps for this project are to comb through all Kepler data and extend it to data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which is known as TESS,” Ridden-Harper said. “This will give us the best understanding of the most rapid explosions in the universe. Along the way, we might discover some rare events that no other telescope could find.”

Kepler was able to observe some remarkable events during its term, from imaging dying stars to discovering exoplanets. But the archive of data it left behind is still providing surprises. “We’ve used it to see stars as they explode, the secret lives of black holes and now things previously missed — this vampire star that had been lurking in the darkness of space,” said Dr. Brad Tucker, supervisor of the project.

The findings are published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Sebastian Stan lays out Bucky’s future after Thunderbolts
Sebastian Stan in Thunderbolts.

There are some spoilers ahead for the ending of Marvel's Thunderbolts. Stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled.

Earlier this year, Captain America: Brave New World briefly introduced a new direction for James "Bucky" Barnes, a character Sebastian Stan has been playing since 2011 in Captain America: The First Avenger. In Brave New World, the former Winter Soldier apparently retired from being a reformed hero and went into politics by running for Congress. Thunderbolts reveals that Bucky won his election to the House of Representatives. But his stay in Congress was short.

Read more
Jeep Compass EV breaks cover—but will it come to the U.S.?
jeep compass ev us newjeepcompassfirsteditionhawaii  4

Jeep just pulled the wraps off the all-new Compass EV, and while it’s an exciting leap into the electric future, there's a catch—it might not make it to the U.S. anytime soon.
This is a brand new electric version of the Jeep Compass, and being built on Stellantis' STLA platform—the same architecture underpinning models like the Peugeot E-3008 and E-5008—it looks much slicker and packs a lot more inside than previous versions of the Compass.
Let’s start with what’s cool: the new Compass EV is packing up to 404 miles of range on a single charge, a 74 kWh battery, and fast-charging that gets you from 20% to 80% in about 30 minutes. Not bad for a compact SUV with Jeep's badge on the nose.
There are two versions: a front-wheel-drive model with 213 horsepower and a beefier all-wheel-drive version with 375 horsepower. That AWD setup isn’t just for looks—it can handle 20% inclines even without front traction, and comes with extra ground clearance and better off-road angles. In short, it’s still a Jeep.
The design's been refreshed too, and inside you’ll find the kind of tech and comfort you’d expect in a modern EV—sleek, smart, and ready for both city streets and dirt trails.
But here’s the thing: even though production starts soon in Italy, Jeep hasn’t said whether the Compass EV is coming to America. And the signs aren’t promising.
Plans to build it in Canada were recently put on hold, with production now delayed until at least early 2026. Some of that might have to do with possible U.S. tariffs on Canadian and Mexican vehicles—adding a layer of uncertainty to the whole rollout.
According to Kelley Blue Book, a Stellantis spokesperson confirmed that the company has “temporarily paused work on the next-generation Jeep Compass, including activities at” the Canadian plant that was originally meant to build the model. They added that Stellantis is “reassessing its product strategy in North America” to better match customer needs and demand for different powertrain options.
So while Europe and other markets are gearing up to get the Compass EV soon, American drivers might be left waiting—or miss out entirely.
That’s a shame, because on paper, this electric Jeep hits a lot of sweet spots. Let’s just hope it finds a way over here.

Read more
Charlie Cox singles out his least favorite Daredevil: Born Again episode
Charlie Cox in Daredevil: Born Again.

Daredevil: Born Again season 1 was largely reconceived after the 2023 actor and writer strikes. Dario Scardapane -- a veteran of The Punisher series on Netflix -- was brought in to be the new showrunner and he made a lot of changes to the series that were well-received. However, there's one episode that Scardapane didn't really change at all, and it happens to be the least favorite episode of Daredevil: Born Again's leading man, Charlie Cox.

During an appearance on The Playlist, Cox noted that he wasn't very fond of the season's fifth episode, "With Interest," which was a largely standalone episode that featured his character, Matt Murdock, in a bank during a hostage crisis.

Read more