BBC: 'Dead star' erupts for big show

[Dead_Parrot]

Return of the Vampire Dwarf! Film at 11.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4885700.stm

Scientists are studying the violent outburst of a dead star as it tries to fire back into life.

The white dwarf star in the Ophiuchus constellation has exhausted its own nuclear fuel but is now stealing it from a neighbouring giant.

Every 20 years or so, it gathers sufficient material to explode with enough intensity to be seen from Earth with the naked eye.

The so-called recurrent nova event has now flared up six times in 108 years.

"It's a runaway nuclear bomb, basically, that has gone off on the surface of the white dwarf star," said Mike Bode.