8 Truly Terrifying Things In Outer Space

8. Zombie Stars

A cold (or rather, hot) reminder of how both incredible and spontaneously combustible our universe can be.

When not enough mass needed to fully form a neutron star is present, what forms instead is called a white dwarf star. With a white dwarf star, there is no longer a fusion reaction taking place, therefore, what is left is simply a ball in space slowly burning out.

However, most stars travel in binary pairs, orbiting each other as they travel through space. Sometimes, when one of the stars in a binary pair is a white dwarf, it will start to rob its neighboring star of its energy like some sort of parasite. Through this process, the white dwarf will gain the necessary mass to essentially come back to life as a fusion reaction is jump-started, ultimately culminating in a supernova. This is how a white dwarf star comes to be known as a zombie star.

To clarify, a dead star can actually be reanimated by quite literally sucking the life out of its travel partner, only to complete the process by exploding. This showcases that while it may seem relatively peaceful from Earth, outer space is alive and breathing with celestial bodies doing whatever they can to survive. Yes, even astrological cannibalism.