For the first time, astronomers have seen a white dwarf "abruptly switching on and off." Researchers from Durham University, UK used the planet-hunting satellite TESS to observe the strange phenomenon taking place in a white dwarf binary system, TW Pictoris, about 1,400 light-years away. Representing a later stage of stars, white dwarfs are approximately the size of Earth but have a mass closer to our Sun.
The aging star was thought to be accreting or feeding from an orbiting companion star, but suddenly lost its brightness in just 30 minutes, suggesting that something was interfering with its "food supply." The above artist's impression depicts the accretion process. More details here.