Cataclysm IV: High State (2002)
The image shows a cataclysmic variable in a so-called 'high state'. The accretion
rate is high. So much so, that the gas stolen from the red dwarf (left) by the white
dwarf piles into the disc faster than it can accrete on the white dwarf. As a result,
the disc has become swollen and much hotter and brighter, and its central regions are
illuminating the face of the red dwarf. Note the shadow of the disc on the face of
the red dwarf. Cataclysm IV: Low State shows the opposite — a 'low state'.
