How is the light of a white dwarf produced?

All hot objects give off light. White Dwarves are the cores of dead stars and still immensely hot. They will eventually cool and dim, but it would take an enormously long period of time. read more

The light we see from a white dwarf is the product of residue heat left over after the star has completed all of its possible fusion cycles and the contraction of carbon and oxygen at the core is complete. read more

A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes from the emission of stored thermal energy; no fusion takes place in a white dwarf wherein mass is converted to energy. The nearest known white dwarf is Sirius B, at 8.6 light years, the smaller component of the Sirius binary star. read more

Not surprising: A white dwarf supernova in a galaxy of only old stars. Two massive star supernovae occur in the same young star cluster. A massive star supernova leaves behind no detectable compact object. A massive star in a binary system explodes. Surprising: An isolated star like our Sun explodes as a white dwarf supernova. read more