Astronomers are puzzled by a new type of star which can be found at a distance of 1,500 light-years away from our planet. The strange star appears to pulsate on a single side. While the discovery of such an object was anticipated several decades ago, this is the first sighting.
The existence of such stars was theorized a few decades ago, with the lead astronomers spending 40 years on the quest to find one. HD74423 has been classified as an A-type main-sequence star. It has a mass equal to 1.7 Suns, but it estimated that it is younger, although its difficult to determine the age.
It was spotted by curious citizens who examined data collected by TESS to observe anything which appears to be unusual. The discovery was picked up by astronomers, and a team has managed to track down the star.
Astronomers are puzzled by a new type of star
Many stars to feature a regular pulsation pattern as waves tend to bounce inside it. These waves are generated by the magnetic field exerted by the star and convection, in a fashion similar to the Earthquakes that can be felt on Earth. Other stars present signs of these oscillations across their entire surface, but HD74423 is a significant exception.
The star is a part of a binary system, is accompanied by a red dwarf, with the being locked in an impressively short orbit that lasts for 1.6 days. Due to the proximity between the object, it is thought that the gravitational pull exerted by the red dwarf can alter the form of HD74423, into an egg or tear-like shape while also being strong enough to change the oscillation pattern.
An interesting trait is represented by the fact that HD74423 has a low metallicity that could be caused by the fact that the star consumed a large amount of cosmic gas during the formation process. More data can be found in a paper published in a scientific journal.