Three Stars, One Extraordinary System and a Drama Still to Come

The fully integrated Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which launched in 2018 and has discovered an amazing new triple star system. (Credit : Orbital ATK/NASA)

Astronomers have discovered a remarkable triple star system in which two Sun like stars orbit each other every 4.75 days, while a giant star, ten times the size of our Sun circles the pair every 412 days. All three orbit in almost exactly the same plane, and because we view that plane edge on from Earth, the stars eclipse each other in a distinctive pattern that allows all three to be measured simultaneously. The giant is slowly swelling and will eventually overflow its gravitational boundary, triggering a dramatic mass transfer event that could reshape or even destroy the system.

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