1st image is a mock up on how it would look like illustrated.
The star in question is, named WD J1330+6435, is a white dwarf in the Milky Way galaxy that is located about 280 light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The traces of sodium in the atmosphere of this white dwarf absorb the orange part of the spectrum, leaving behind a ghostly green glow.
From Space.com
This discovery is because scientists have discovered that white dwarfs, the type of stellar remnants sun-sized stars leave behind when they die, can actually take on a range of colours including green if they snack on their rocky planets like cosmic cannibals.
For stellar scientists, the colours of stars have always been indicative of their temperatures. Cool stars look orange, while stars like the sun look white, and the hottest stars glow pale blue. This is akin to a blacksmith's iron glowing red, then orange, then white-hot as it heats up. Researchers have always assumed that white dwarfs follow the same rule. However, new research suggests that these stellar corpses could glow in a range of colours including green, pink, cyan, yellow, and purple.
Mark Hollands of the University of Warwick in England and lead author of the study published in the journal RAS Techniques and Instruments stated:
"In this particular white dwarf, however, the density is so high that the sodium atoms are constantly being bombarded by surrounding helium atoms, which alters the sodium atomic energy levels,"
"The end result is that the sodium atoms no longer absorb one very narrow wavelength of orange they absorb the yellows, oranges and some of the red wavelengths. And what you're left with is a star that has a beautiful chartreuse green glow, something that wouldn't be possible for sun-like stars."
