NASA discovers glowing vampire star from Kepler space probe archives

The video explains a rare astronomical event called a super outburst, where a white dwarf star devours its brown dwarf companion, creating intense light. The retired Kepler telescope captured footage that led to this discovery. The brown dwarf orbits the white dwarf every 83 minutes, forming an accretion disk due to the white dwarf's gravitational pull. When the disk reaches a critical mass, gravitational resonance with the orbiting star causes a temperature spike, resulting in a super outburst.

What happens to the accretion disk when it reaches a critical mass?

What is the peak temperature reached during a super outburst?