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Nature 442, 520-521 (3 August 2006) | doi:10.1038/442520a; Published online 2 August 2006

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Astronomy: A dwarf-eats-dwarf world

James Liebert1

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A white dwarf burnt-out star and a brown dwarf wannabe star have been found in mutual orbit. This fascinating system has had a turbulent past, and its future evolution could be just as spectacular.

On page 543 of this issue, Maxted et al.1 report observations of a detached astronomical binary system of small orbital separation, known as WD 0137–349. These observations are remarkable for what they imply about the pair's history, and what we can infer from them of its future: within a few billion years, the system will become a so-called cataclysmic variable, in which one star grabs mass from the other.

  1. James Liebert is at the Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
    Email: liebert@as.arizona.edu

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