Preliminary sketch for an upcoming illustration - Chandrasekhar

Note, this is not finished yet. It's a preliminary version, where I experimented and tested my way to an almost final version, that I'll re-paint from scratch later. Using this one more like a reference photo.

It took quite a while because I keep fine-tuning and changing my mind. But I think this is the final form. :)

The title is about something called the Chandrasekhar Limit, which is the mass above which a star will collapse into a neutron star or black hole (about 1.4 solar masses). Below this limit the star remains stable as a white dwarf.

A binary system like this one often has one star sucking mass out of the other, making it go above the Chandrasekhar limit and eventually explode in a type 1a supernova, destroying everything within light years. The idea is that the woman knows the end is coming, but has no way of escaping it.

I know that technically she's already too close to the event to survive the gamma radiation emanating from it, but I'm imagining that her civilization has developed a way to protect against it. I didn't want to make the suns much smaller.

Hope you like it, if you have any suggestions for changes, now is the time to make them. :)