system

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 … Read more