White dwarfs are not very bright because they are smaller than many brighter stars - not because they are cold . Some white dwarfs are blue , instead of white . These three white dwarfs , the first discovered , are the so-called classical white dwarfs . , p. 2 Eventually , many faint white stars were found which had high proper motion , indicating that they could be suspected to be low-luminosity stars close to the Earth , and hence white dwarfs .