'Each crash of the star's towering tidal waves releases enough energy to disintegrate our entire planet several hundred times over'
Because the shapes of the larger stars in these systems are distorted, they alternately show their wider and narrower sides to us, leading to brightness pulses mimicking a beating heart. That's why scientists aptly named the stellar breed"heartbeat stars" to begin with.Normally, heartbeat stars are known to fluctuate in brightness by 0.1% – but MACHO 80.7443.1718 has always been different. It experiences regular episodes every 32.
"Each crash of the star’s towering tidal waves releases enough energy to disintegrate our entire planet several hundred times over," MacLeod said in aThe waves are absolutely huge, rising about 4 million kilometers above the primary star's surface. They form when the companion star reaches what's known as periastron, which is the closest point in its 32.8-day orbit around the primary star. That primary star is also huge, with a gargantuan radius of 16.
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