A cataclysmic variable with recurrent disk outbursts associated with the hydrogen-ionization disk instability. Enhanced accretion powers the bright phase; the event does not require thermonuclear runaway on the white dwarf.
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A dwarf nova is a type of cataclysmic variable star system that exhibits periodic outbursts in brightness due to the accretion of material from a companion star onto a white dwarf. In these systems, a white dwarf (a small, dense star that has exhausted the nuclear fuel in its core) is in a close binary orbit with a more massive companion, typically a red dwarf or a main-sequence star.