White dwarfs form from dead stars' cores under a solar-like mass; not beyond the Type II (or electron-capture) limit. This constrains how big they can be when they first form. So, when you see one 1.35 sols, it probably came from additional mass. As in, it merged into some other star and (somehow) didn't go Type I nova.
So Caltech presents ZTF J1901+1458. Caltech say this ain't stable. It is, indeed, running close to Chandrasekhar's 1.4. Maybe its high spin is keeping it from imploding (further).
What would the bang look like if it did implode? This looks like it would go to a neutron-star and shed a lot of outer layers. A belated Type II.
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