Birth of a Blue Straggler (IMAGE) University of Wisconsin-Madison Caption Birth of a blue straggler star. Left: A normal star in a binary system gravitationally pulls in matter from an aging companion star that has swelled to a bloated red giant that is a few hundred times its original size. Right: After a couple hundred million years, the red giant star has burned out and collapsed to the white dwarf that shines intensely in ultraviolet wavelengths. The companion star has bulked up on hydrogen siphoned from the red giant to become much hotter, brighter and bluer. Credit Credit: NASA/ESA, A. Feild (STScI) Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.