As the Universe unfolds right before our eyes, we could only be fascinated by its beauty or intrigued by its peculiarity. Recent discovery gets right to the odd category of, ‘what’s actually this thing’?
Astronomers detected something strange near Milky Way’s center that’ll leave you in awe. Some 25,000 light-years from our planet, a possible new giant star, defies the laws of the Universe.
Here is what you need to know.
VVV-WIT-08 and Its Odd Behaviour
It almost died for several months. Then it kicked back just fine, shining brighter than ever. VVV-WIT-08 is the astronomers’ new challenge, a possible new giant star over 100 times the Sun that it’s now making sure we’ll finally see it.
What do astronomers believe?
The peculiar case of VVV-WIT-08 is now investigated. The giant star has exhibited a deep drop in light, something that astronomers never encountered before.
Who’s to blame? Why is VVV-WIT-08 manifesting like that?
As per astronomers’ findings, there could be a planet or another star encircled by a dense, opaque disk of dust on an intense orbit around VVV-WIT-08. So, that could cover the star entirely right when it passes in front of astronomers’ view.
Sergey Koposov, an astronomer from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, says:
“It’s amazing that we just observed a dark large, and elongated object pass between us and the distant star and we can only speculate what its origin is.”
The case of Epsilon Aurigae
VVV-WIT-08’s story isn’t without precedent. A few years ago, astronomers found Epsilon Aurigae, a supergiant star with a disk-covered companion on a 27-year orbit that dims the star by approximately 50 % for up to 730 days. But that’s not all.
System TYC 2505-672-1, a red giant star, has a dusty companion, too, on a 69-year orbit. The companion eclipses the star for 3.5 years.
More data about VVV-WIT-08 will soon be available as astronomers will succeed in finding more parts of this peculiar puzzle.