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The outermost star has the shortest known orbital period for star systems with a similar configuration.
Illustration of the triple star system. (Image Credit: NASA).
New Delhi: NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), that normally spots exoplanets, has discovered a triple star system designated as TIC 290061484, that breaks a record set in 1956. TIC 290061484 has two stars close together that orbit each other every 1.8 days. A third star orbits around a binary pair every 25 days. For systems with a similar configuration, TIC 290061484 has the closest orbital period for the third star. The previous record was a third star orbiting a binary system every 33 days. The system could be picked up by TESS because of how compact the star system is, and it’s edge-on configuration, where the stars pass each other from the vantage point of the Earth.
TIC 290061484 is located in the constellation of Cygnus, and is nearly flat from the perspective of the Earth. The stars cross each other, creating eclipses that allows scientists to carefully measure the light and probe the stars. The configuration of the system allows astronomers to determine the orbits, masses, sizes and temperatures of all the three stars in the system. Despite the tight configuration, scientists believe that all the three stars are stable, with the system likely to remain stable for millions of years into the future. Researchers also believe that the three stars all formed around the same time.
There may be more such triple star systems
A paper describing the research has been published in The Astrophysical Journal. Coauthor of the paper, Saul Rappaport says, “We’re mainly looking for signatures of compact multi-star systems, unusual pulsating stars in binary systems, and weird objects. It’s exciting to identify a system like this because they’re rarely found, but they may be more common than current tallies suggest.” Scientists believe that many more such systems may exist in the galaxy, and are hunting for triple star systems with shorter orbits.
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