When white dwarfs—the hot remnants of stars like our sun—are orbited closely by another star, they sometimes steal mass away ...

Only a few dozen of these short-lived binaries exist in the galaxy at a time, making the serendipitous find extremely ...

More information: Z. L. Yang et al, A pulsar-helium star compact binary system formed by common envelope evolution, Science (2025).

The discovery of this unusual binary system helps confirm a long theorized—but rarely seen—cosmic process called common envelope evolution.

The common-envelope wind model is a modified single-degenerate model that can in principle address the above-mentioned problem by suggesting a strong mass loss at the surface of the common envelope.

Astronomers have made observations of the end of the common envelope stage of binary stars — an important step in the evolution of stellar couples.

Astronomers have identified a rare type of binary star system containing a rapidly spinning millisecond pulsar and a helium star companion, formed via common envelope evolution. Although such ...

The " common envelope" stage is a common feature of the evolution of binary stars because when the more massive star runs out of hydrogen in its core, it evolves into a red giant.

Chamandy, Luke, et al. "How negative feedback and the ambient environment limit the influence of recombination in common envelope evolution." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 528. 1 ...

Astronomers may have discovered a rare type of binary star system, where one star used to orbit inside its partner.