Astronomers might have solved the mystery behind an unusually brightening star.
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. University of Washington doctoral student Anastasios Tzanidakis and research assistant professor of astronomy James Davenport were searching for “stars behaving strangely” when they received an alert about a potential stellar oddity from the Gaia spacecraft.
It remained this way for 7 years, from 2012 to 2019. The astronomers just happened to observe the star at the end of an eclipse that lasted for years. No other stars located near Gaia17bpp have exhibited any dimming of this magnitude. The team also searched through a digital catalog of astro-photographic plates at Harvard University dating back to the 1950s. “Over 66 years of observational history, we found no other signs of significant dimming in this star,” Tzanidakis said.
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