Prepare yourself, two stars will hit and explode in the vicinity of the solar system
Two white dwarfs come into contact before exploding (illustration). © University of Warwick / Mark Garlick
Called with “love” by astronomers WDJ181058 and 67-311940,94, two suns will have the privilege of entering the List of stars closest to us and likely to explode in supernova. Admittedly, observed at 150 light years, it is not exactly the door next to it, a light year equivalent to just under 10,000 billion kilometers. But on a cosmic scale, by bringing the size of the Milky Way to that of the Earth, for example, this distance would be comparable to a city just 60 km from you!
These stars so close to us are white dwarfs, soils that have exhausted their nuclear fuel, as it will happen to ours in some 5 billion years when gravity will compress it up to a volume more than that of the earth.
The difference with the sun is that these white dwarfs live as a couple, or as two old sisters who have never separated. They run around each other within 3 million kilometers away, 60 times less than our planet with the sun. On this truly very tight orbit, these stars perform their revolution in just 2 p.m.! And what we know is that they are going to get closer to each other …
Imagine an explosion of stars more shiny than the full moon
Simulation of contact occurring before the explosion of two stars in 23 billion years. © James Munday et al, Nature 2025
Calculated at approximately 1.55, the combined mass of these two stars exceeds that known as Chandrasekar (1.44 solar mass), that a lonely white dwarf must not cross under penalty of ending up irreparably in type 1A supernova, that is to say in a thermonuclear explosion. The laws of physics are non -negotiable on this point and the study indicates that their orbit will necessarily be reduced over time, leading them to spiral to each other until it comes into contact, then to bring the ultimate explosion.
The authors of The article published In Nature Astronomy believe that the brightness of such an event in the vicinity of the solar system will produce as much light as the full moon. Indeed, the supernovæ 1a are known for their extreme brightness, exceeding that of their entire host galaxy.
Patience and time length …
However, we will never see this show. The characteristic time of such a physical encounter between these two white dwarfs is actually higher than the current age of the universe, or about 23 billion years.
