Our universe has many wonders to discover, and astronomers constantly discover new things about it. With new discoveries come new mysteries as well, as these new discoveries are mostly new in some way. One of the mysteries of the universe are heartbeat stars.
Heartbeat stars are binary stars whose brightness would be like that of an electrocardiogram over time, as NASA's site describes it. One of the interesting things about heartbeat stars are their orbits, as they are long an elliptical. This is due to the gravitational pull each star has on the other.
Not only are their orbits elliptical, but the distances can vary as well. As the stars pull on each other, they can either pull the other closer, or else gravity can pull them apart as well. With a closer range the stars' orbit might take on a more elliptical shape. This also gives the stars their variable brightness.
The heartbeat stars were discovered largely through the help of the NASA Kepler space telescope, Phys Org reports. For the study its lead author is Avi Shporer of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a NASA Sagan postdoctoral fellow.
The study has measured the orbits of 19 heartbeat star systems. The High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) on the W.M. Keck Observatory telescope in Hawaii was used for the study. HIRES measures the wavelengths of light, which gives astronomers an idea if a star is moving far or near the Earth.
"The mere existence of heartbeat stars is a bit of a puzzle," admitted Susan Mullally, co-author of the study and a SETI Institute scientist working for the Kepler mission at NASA's Ames Research Center based in Moffett Field, California. She said that the tidal effect of the stars should have caused them to have a circular orbit. For an elliptical orbit to happen, there has to be a third star affecting them, she noted further.
The study aims to further study heartbeat stars and if a third star might be involved in making them have an elliptical orbit. Also of note is that heartbeat stars tend to be much hotter and bigger than the Sun, observed Shporer.
A recent study shows that the Sun is a very dynamic star.
