For a period of several month , a vast star located more than 25,000 light - eld from Earth beat more and more dimmer before eventually returning to its usual brightness . An obstruction of some kind likely caused this foreign result , but uranologist are n’t exactly sure what it is .
In early 2012 , a red giant star known as VVV - WIT-08 began to show a gradual drop-off in brightness ( the “ WIT ” in the star ’s name endure for “ What Is This?”—more on that soon ) . This dimming continued until April of that year , when the maven decline to 97 % of its original brightness , reach it nearly invisible . bit by bit , the star , 100 times big than the Sun , returned to its former glory . The whole affair from beginning to finish lasted about 200 days .
Newresearchpublished late last week in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society chronicles this strange event in detail , in which VVV - WIT-08 exhibited a “ liquid , occultation - similar drop ” in its usual luminosity . Astronomer Leigh Smith from Cambridge University ’s Institute of Astronomy co - led the work .
Artist’s conception of the dark mystery object passing in front of the giant star.Image: Amanda Smith, University of Cambridge
Now , it is not uncommon for lead to experience dips in cleverness . Causes are typically ascribe to eclipse companion stars or stars that naturallypulsate . What is strange , however , is for a single blinking instalment to last for such a foresighted fourth dimension .
Interestingly , there are analogues in the scientific literature . gargantuan star Epsilon Aurigae experience a partial occultation , in which it dims by about 50 % every 27 years . Another lead detected a few years ago , called TYC 2505 - 672 - 1 , does something similar , with an eclipse pass every 69 old age . At 3.45 age , TYC 2505 - 672 - 1 features the longest stellar eclipse known to astronomers . In both case , astronomer attribute a massive disc of revolve rubble as the likeliest causal agent .
There are other stars that seems to undergo even dimming , so this might actually be a thing . And by thing , the uranologist are referring to a “ population of long - stop eclipsing double star composed of late - case jumbo lead and opaque - disk - host companions , ” as it ’s described in the study . The nature of this massive disc of unintelligible dust , however , remains a mystery .
“ It ’s amazing that we just observed a obscure , expectant and elongated objective pass between us and the distant hotshot and we can only excogitate what its origin is , ” Sergey Koposov , a co - author of the subject field and an uranologist with the University of Edinburgh , explainedin a statement .
The team , which includes astronomers from Carnegie Mellon University , University College London , and several other institutions , detected the probable long - period eclipsing binary star in data pucker by VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea resume ( VVV ) run by the European Southern Observatory . The dimming was also spotted in data compile by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment ( OGLE ) , a crusade managed by the University of Warsaw .
“ Occasionally we get varying star that do n’t fit into any demonstrate class , which we call ‘ what - is - this ? ’ , or ‘ WIT ’ objects , ” Philip Lucas , conscientious objector - leader of the study and a professor at the University of Hertfordshire , say in the statement . “ We really do n’t know how these wink giants came to be . It ’s exciting to see such discoveries from VVV after so many years planning and gathering the data . ”
Models made from the datum point to an elliptical physical object with a undifferentiated transparency . It ’s also duncical — somewhere around 23.2 million miles deep , or about a quarter the mediocre distance from Earth to the Sun ( AU ) . dubiousness about the object ’s orbit mean the scientist ca n’t be certain of its full size , with estimate range from tens of AU to hundreds of AU across ( 1 AU is 93 million miles , or 150 million klick ) .
In terms of an explanation , the squad consider a chance happen with an unidentified passing object , but they ruled that out , noting that “ a chance alignment with the jumbo whiz requires an implausibly large outer space density of dark foreground objects , ” concord to the study . Indeed , as their simulations showed , an impossibly big number of rogue , dark physical object have to exist in the Milky Way for this hypothesis to exploit . It ’s far more likely , they argue , that the mystery object is orbitally bound to VVV - WIT-08 .
Other theories offer by the scientist include a debris disc bring about by a white dwarf or black kettle of fish or a disc composed of matter peel from the star itself . None of the proposed theory are great , but the writer said a potential aggregative transfer of training from the elephantine virtuoso is an “ attractive ” possibility .
“ Despite intensive efforts , it is clear that we have leave way for further study on this intriguing aim ! , ” conclude the astronomers in their study . Should this population of binary objects be , the Legacy Survey of Space and Time ( LSST ) campaign at the upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory is very probable to spot them . LSST was delayed by the covid-19 pandemic , and it belike wo n’t get started until late 2023 .
More : A massive star has disappeared without a trace .
AstronomyPhysical sciencesStar typesWhite dwarf
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