The Closest Star Cluster Spat out an Extremely Massive White Dwarf

The Hyades star cluster is only about 153 light-years away. At that short distance away, it’s visible with the unaided eye in the constellation Taurus. Its proximity gives professional astronomers an easier time observing it than many other objects of interest. Hyades contains hundreds of stars with similar ages--about 625 million years--similar metallicities and similar …