'Sextuply-eclipsing sextuple star system' discovered whirling through the Milky Way

[Judi Lynn]

By Rafi Letzter - Staff Writer a day ago

If you've ever ridden a teacup ride at a state fair you might be ready for life in the six-star system TIC 168789840.



An illustration shows the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Data from TESS has revealed a sextuple star system less than 2,000 light years from Earth.
(Image: © NASA)


Ever ridden a teacup ride at a state fair? If so, you might have a small taste of life in a whirling, twirling sextuply-eclipsing sextuple star system.

"Sextuply-eclipsing sextuple star system" is astronomer-speak for a system with six stars all orbiting each other and all regularly eclipsing one another from the perspective of Earth — and astronomers have just found one named TIC 168789840.

This six- star system is far enough from Earth (a bit less than 2,000 light-years away) that telescopes can't resolve its individual stars, which blur together into a single point of light. Instead, astronomers were able to spot that point of light brightening and dimming in an unusual pattern, thanks to the stars' penchant for regularly eclipsing one another.

These eclipses are visible due to a spot of luck: TIC 168789840's stars orbit on a plane that lines up perfectly with Earth, so every time one of the stars passes another, it creates an eclipse that is visible to Earth's telescopes. From a different vantage point, the stars would never block each other, and the system would just be another point of light in space.

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