TESS Spots Mysterious Dust-Emitting Object in Binary Stellar System astronomy space science
Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite have discovered a unique object of uncertain nature — possibly a disintegrating asteroid or minor planet — orbiting one star in the widely separated binary system TIC 400799224.., doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac2c81.Also known as Gaia EDR3 5238414793089292160, 2MASS 11095818-6645149 and ALLWISE J110958.16-664514.8, this system consists of two stars of similar brightness separated by about 300 AU.
They then studied TIC 400799224 with a variety of facilities, including Las Cumbres Observatory, the CHIRON spectrograph on the 1.5-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope. “But while the periodicity is strict, the dust occultations of the star are erratic in their shapes, depths, and durations, and are detectable — at least from the ground — only about one-third of the time or less,” they said.“If it were produced by the disintegration of an object like the dwarf planet Ceres in our Solar System, it would survive only about 8,000 years before disappearing.”
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