White dwarfs have a surprisingly colourful side. Despite their name, some of these stellar remnants would appear pink, purple, yellow, or cyan up close.

Researchers have identified an example that would look green to the human eye.

The findings, published on 15 October 2026 in RAS Techniques and Instruments, show how temperature and atmospheric chemistry combine to shape a star’s appearance.

Meet the Green White Dwarf

The star, called WD J1330+6435, is about 280 light-years from Earth. A light-year measures distance, not time: it is how far light travels in a year. The light reaching us now therefore left this star roughly 280 years ago.

A white dwarf is the dense core left behind after a low- or medium-mass star exhausts its fuel and sheds its outer layers. Most have familiar stellar colours, but this one has an unusual atmospheric mixture. 

Rocky debris from its planetary system has introduced elements including calcium, lithium and sodium into its outer layers.

In its extremely dense atmosphere, sodium absorbs broad stretches of yellow, orange and some red light. This shifts the balance of escaping light, producing a calculated chartreuse, or yellowish-green, appearance. 

How Do Scientists Know Its Colour?

The researchers did not simply look through a telescope and see a bright green star.

They used spectra, which separate starlight into its different wavelengths, together with a model of human colour vision. This allowed them to calculate how the light would appear if an observer could see the star’s surface from sufficiently close.

The study examines perceived colour rather than the artificial colours sometimes used in astronomical images to highlight scientific information.

According to the University of Warwick, this is the first genuinely green star the researchers are aware of.

Pink Stars Have a Different Recipe

Planetary leftovers are not the only ingredients changing these stars’ colours.

In some white dwarfs, carbon rises from the interior into the atmosphere. Carbon molecules absorb parts of the visible spectrum, helping produce pink or purple hues.

One example, WD J1011+2845, lies about 48 light-years away and appears a deep salmon-pink. 

Most Still Live Up to Their Name

The team also examined a representative sample of 151 white dwarfs within about 65 light-years of Earth. This was a separate nearby sample; the green star lies farther away.

Five showed unusual colours: two yellow and three pink. The sample's typical colour was still white.

A Colourful Clue to a Star’s History

These colours reveal more than an unexpected appearance. They reflect what is happening in a star’s atmosphere, including material arriving from its surroundings or rising from within.

Even after a star’s main-sequence lifetime ends, its remaining light tells a story.