Deep space is full of mysteries.In observations collected by NASAs Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers found yet another mystery, and a dirty one at that. In brand-new research, a team of researchers analyzes possible causes of odd signals produced by an item dubbed TIC 400799224. Based upon what astronomers have actually seen up until now, the scientists suggest that this object might be a binary star, or double star system, in which among the stars is surrounded by a massive cloud of dust, the debris of possibly a big asteroid, according to a declaration from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, house to one of the researchers on the team.Related: The 10 biggest exoplanet discoveries of 2021TESS is created to spot exoplanets by searching for tiny, rhythmic dips in the brightness of a star– dips brought on by a world passing in between the star and the telescope, obstructing a smidge of its light. However, planets arent the only phenomenon that can trigger changing brightness like this, so TESS has actually collected a bounty of observations on everything from supernovas (taking off stars) to triple star systems and more.When the scientists were looking through TESS information collected in early 2019, TIC 400799224 stood apart since it became almost 25% dimmer in just a few hours, then made numerous more sudden brightness changes. (TIC represents TESS Input Catalog and recommendations a database of “every optically consistent, stationary object in the sky,” by the method.)An artists representation of NASAs Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in area. (Image credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center)TESS invests about one month on a single spot of the sky then carries on, but these patches overlap, so the item was consisted of in four various sectors observed between March 2019 and May 2021. The scientists also relied on other instruments for additional info on the strange things, incorporating information from facilities including the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae and the Las Cumbres Observatory, both networks of ground-based observatories around the globe.Taken together, all this information let researchers piece together a photo of what may be triggering the strange signal. The scientists suspect that at the heart of TIC 400799224 is a binary star in which 2 similar stars circle each other. But among those stars seems pulsing every 19.77 days, triggering the more complex patterns; that pulsing, the astronomers argue, is triggered by a huge cloud of dust surrounding the star. That dust has a combined mass equivalent to the remains of an asteroid 6 miles (10 kilometers) large, they calculate.The researchers consider a couple of different descriptions for all that dust, however recommend that the most likely case is that collisions between miniature planet-like items like asteroids are creating the dust. Still, its a tricky case to discuss because the amount of dust spending time appears to have remained pretty constant throughout the six years that the scientists can find existing observations of TIC 400799224. The researchers hope to continue observing the item to much better understand its odd patterns.The research study is described in a paper released Dec. 8 in The Astronomical Journal.Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
