About 25,000 light-years from Earth, astronomers have found a strange star that appears and disappears and may belong to a new class of meteors.
Something strange is going on at the center of our galaxy. Astronomers have spotted a peculiar “blinking” star about 25,000 light-years from Earth that nearly disappeared for months and then reappeared again. The celestial body has been named VVV-WIT-08 and, according to scientists, may belong to a new class of “flashing giant” binary star system. These types of stars are more than 100 times the size of the Sun and, at intervals of several decades, are obscured by a mysterious orbiting body.
The case of the flashing object VVV-WIT-08
Although other meteors have shown dips in light over the years, none has been as profound as in the case of VVV-WIT-08. The international team of astronomers observed that this star decreased in brightness until it almost disappeared from the sky. Scientists believe that another star or planet, surrounded by a thick, opaque disk of dust, orbiting VVV-WIT-08 is responsible for the near invisibility for months. When this celestial body passes in front of the meteor, it completely covers it, thus making it disappear and then reappear. The study was published in the Monthly Notice of the Royal Astronomical Society and the discovery was led by Dr. Leigh Smith of the Cambridge Institute of Astronomy, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, the University of Hertfordshire, the University of Warsaw in Poland and Andres Bello University in Chile.
The case of a star accompanied by another giant object is not uncommon. One example is Epsilon Aurigae, a supergiant meteor with a disk-wrapped “companion” on a 27-year orbit, which obscures the star by about 50% for up to 730 days. Then there is also the TYC 2505-672-1 system, a red giant star with a dusty body on a 69-year orbit, which eclipses it for a period of 3.5 years.
Regarding VVV-WIT-08, the dimming was also observed by the optical gravitational lensing experiment using the Warsaw Telescope in Chile. The data showed that the dimming lasted about 200 days, with a nearly symmetrical light curve, extinguishing the star by up to 97%. The object density required in that region of space for the random alignment of two bodies is much higher than observed, so the team believes the two objects are gravitationally bound.
According to mathematical models, the orbital period could be a few decades, and Cambridge University astronomer Leigh Smith believes there is much more to be found in the galaxy. “Now the challenge,” Smith said, “is to figure out what these hidden companions are” of some stars. The study of these objects, according to scientists, could be useful to better understand how some meteor systems evolve in space.
In the meantime, staying with the space theme, Jeff Bezos is preparing to depart aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard.