Binary White Dwarf Merger (VIDEO) Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian This video is under embargo. Please login to access this video. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Caption The binary star system J0923+3028 consists of two white dwarfs that are gradually spiraling in toward each other. In about 100 million years they will merge. Since their combined mass is too low to result in a supernova (i.e. less than the Chandrasekhar limit), a single, more massive white dwarf will be left after the merger. Nuclear fusion of a shell of material on the surface will result in a flash of light like a supernova but fainter. Credit Clayton Ellis (CfA) Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.