Today, a UCLA - led team of scientists reports that it has discovered
the existence of a white dwarf star whose atmosphere is rich in carbon and nitrogen, as well as in oxygen and hydrogen, the components of water.
We discuss the
existence of the long cycle and these flare properties in the backdrop
of two rival scenarios to produce hard X-rays, a magnetic
star - disk interaction and the accretion
of blobs onto a secondary
white dwarf.