While routinely scanning the sky for the burnt-out remnants of dying stars, scientists stumbled upon a strange cosmic signal. After running a few more tests, they were stunned.
One of their observed stellar corpses, a white dwarf star more than 1,000 light-years from Earth that spins once every 15 minutes, had a peculiar appearance. Its orb-like surface possessed two different elements on either of its sides, weirdly divided like a basketball sliced down the middle. On one face, the researchers identified traces of hydrogen — on the other, helium. Though the split may not be exactly 50-50, the breakup the researchers saw was apparent enough to leave them scratching their heads.
