Here's why:
* Sirius B is a white dwarf, which is the final stage of a star like our Sun after it has exhausted its hydrogen fuel.
* White dwarfs are incredibly dense, about the size of the Earth but with the mass of our Sun.
* They are no longer fusing hydrogen, but they still glow faintly due to residual heat.
While there are many white dwarfs in our galaxy, Sirius B is a particularly well-studied example, as it is relatively close to Earth and its companion Sirius A allows us to study its properties.