Scientists are currently trying to solve one of the mysteries of the universe. A dusty object has been discovered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, and no one knows what’s up with it. There is something unusual happening with a binary star system called TIC 400799224.
TESS has confirmed that there are more than 170 exoplanets, besides many other objects. And the one in the spotlight was TIC 400799224. It presented a “rapid drop in brightness, by nearly 25% in just a few four hours, followed by several sharp brightness variations that could each be interpreted as an eclipse.”
TESS finds exoplanets by looking for drops in brightness when a planet goes in front of a star. But sometimes, these drops show that there is more to the story. Soon, scientists found out that TIC 400799224 is actually a binary star system. One of them is continually pulsating, which is why orbiting objects emit dust that dims it. These dust clouds have different shapes, sizes, and durations.
The nature of the orbiting body is unknown, and the quantity of the dust is very large. If the disintegration of an asteroid produced it, it would have survived only 8,000 years before disappearing. But the thing is that this object is intact.
There is still a lot to investigate and process, like which star in the system is the object orbiting and what kind of object it is. NASA will continue to keep an eye on it to determine its origin and its variations.
TESS is exceptionally good at its job. We don’t only get details on exoplanets, but it delivers many more about comets, and the sky in general.
