Janus is a white dwarf, and it is the first time a solitary star has been observed that appears to have developed two faces.

As more and more of the universe is explored, more and more unimaginable phenomena are discovered, from the birth of stars to the existence of planets that, in theory, should not exist.

And it is that, a team of scientists has been baffled by the unusual discovery of a two-faced star, since, on the one hand, it looks grainy or “bubbly” and is made up of hydrogen, while the other is soft and bright, because it is made up of helium.

Astronomers have named the strange body “Janus,” after the two-faced Roman god of transition.

Janus is a white dwarf, and it is the first time a solitary star has been observed that appears to have developed two faces.

This celestial body is located more than a thousand light-years away in the constellation Cygnus and was initially discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in San Diego, California while searching for white dwarfs.

“The white dwarf’s surface changes completely from one side to the other,” study author Ilaria Caiazzo said in a statement from the University of British Columbia (UBC).

A white dwarf is a stellar remnant that forms when a star is in its last stages, after exhausting nuclear fuel and passing through the red giant and planetary nebula stages.

During this stage, the heavier elements sink into the stellar core and the lighter ones, such as hydrogen, float outwards.

Why does Janus have two faces?
The star evolved differently due to its magnetic fields, the scientists explained, so these forces prevented the components from mixing.

“So, if the magnetic field is stronger on one side, that side will have less mixing and therefore more hydrogen,” explained the person in charge of the research.

It is estimated that the star could be right on the edge of stability between one element and the other.