# Hubble Finds Four Hidden White Dwarf Stars Lurking Beside Red Dwarf Companions

*2026-07-15 22:01 UTC · Science · 2 min read*

> Hubbles ultraviolet vision revealed four white dwarf stars hidden behind brighter red dwarf companions within 65 light-years of Earth.

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered four white dwarf stars that had gone undetected for decades, each hiding in a binary system alongside a much brighter red dwarf companion. The team, led by Mairi OBrien of the University of Warwick with researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, used Hubbles ultraviolet spectrographs to pick out the faint white dwarfs light from the glare of their red dwarf partners — a wavelength range where dead stars stand out far more clearly than in visible light.

All four systems lie within about 65 light-years of Earth. One, G 203-47, is now the ninth-closest known white dwarf to the Sun; confirming its companion took 27 years after astronomers first noticed the red dwarfs telltale gravitational wobble. G 203-47 also surprised researchers with faint X-ray emission and a red dwarf that rotates once every 100-plus days despite orbiting its dead companion every 14.9 days — evidence, the team says, that these binary pairs evolved in very different ways.

The white dwarfs measured between 5,300 and 6,300 Kelvin, and Swift X-ray telescope data helped refine the analysis. The findings add to the small but growing census of nearby stellar remnants and show how many dead stars may still be hiding in the glare of ordinary-looking neighbors.

## Sources

- [lasp.colorado.edu](https://lasp.colorado.edu/2026/07/13/hubble-space-telescope-reveals-hidden-white-dwarf-stars-in-four-nearby-star-systems/)
- [sciencedaily.com](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/07/260714225528.htm)

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TechTools News · https://techtools.cz/tools/news/article/2013-hubble-finds-four-hidden-white-dwarf-stars-lurking-beside-red-dwarf-companions
Česká verze: https://techtools.cz/tools/news/clanek/2086-hubbleuv-teleskop-odhalil-ctyri-skryte-bile-trpasliky-ukryte-vedle-cervenych