Is it true astronomers discovered the first green star?

What is being claimed about the green star?

Recent headlines say astronomers discovered the first green star. Read literally, that could suggest they found a new kind of star that is green. The research described in the reports is narrower: astronomers studying white dwarfs identified one that, according to the study authors as reported, would look green to human eyes ¹².

That distinction matters. “Green star” is a description of apparent color here, not the name of a new stellar category. White dwarfs are the compact remnants of stars like the Sun after those stars have reached the end of their lives ¹².

What do the sources say astronomers found?

RNZ reports that astronomers analyzing white dwarfs found a star that would appear green to human eyes. It attributes the finding to a study and identifies Mark Hollands, an astrophysicist at the University of Warwick, as the study’s lead author ¹.

A Popular Science report, dated October 15, 2026, names the object WDJ1330+6435 and says the researchers also identified WDJ0902+2010 as the reddest star recorded ². It says the color findings were described in a study published in the journal RAS Techniques and Instruments ². These are details reported by the articles; the research sources supplied here do not include the study itself.

Can a star really look green?

The reports explain that ordinary star color is generally associated with temperature, but white dwarfs can be unusual exceptions. In Hollands’s explanation as reported by RNZ, interactions involving helium and traces of other elements in a white dwarf’s atmosphere can produce deviations in its spectrum and color ¹. A spectrum is the pattern of light an object gives off.

Popular Science likewise says that white dwarfs can show a wider range of colors than expected, and describes the reported stars as outliers ². This supports the more careful wording that a particular white dwarf may appear green. It does not establish that green is a common color for stars.

What is missing from the “first green star” headline?

The headline leaves out that the object is a white dwarf and that “green” refers to how it would appear to human eyes. It can therefore give readers a broader impression than the research report supports ¹².

There is also a limit to what can be checked from the available sources. RNZ and Popular Science summarize the study, but the research text, methods and full results are not included here. We can report what those articles say, but cannot independently assess the measurements or precisely define what “first” means in the study’s context ¹².

A general overview of green stars notes that stars do not typically appear green under ordinary viewing conditions, while some can seem greenish in particular circumstances ³. That page is not the study, so it provides context rather than independent confirmation of this specific finding.

How can you check a claim like this yourself?

Look beyond the headline and ask what kind of object was found, what “green” means, and whether the story refers to an observed color or a new type of object. In this case, the reports identify a white dwarf and describe its appearance to human eyes ¹².

For the strongest check, look for the study itself and compare its wording with news coverage. The sources provided name the journal as RAS Techniques and Instruments, but do not supply a study link or the full paper ². Until that text is available, the news reports support a qualified summary rather than a broader claim.