Imagine eating as much as you can handle, getting heavier and heavier — all while getting slimmer and slimmer. Sounds like a dream, especially after the festive period, right? Well, maybe not for everything in the cosmos. Unfortunately, the "feasting diet" that one dead star is engaged in signals its relatively imminent destruction in a violent supernova explosion. It's the definition of "no pain, no gain."
The rapid spin of this white dwarf, that is vampirically taking stellar matter away from a companion star, could be explained by its shrinking radius. While the white dwarf won't erupt in a supernova within our lifetime, it will explode relatively soon in cosmic terms.
