Stars from 'The Three-Body Problem' are real after all
What's the story
Chinese astronomers have discovered a real three-star system, which is far more stable than the one depicted in Liu Cixin's science fiction work, The Three-Body Problem. The discovery was made using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in southwestern China. Located 7,000 light years from Earth, this system consists of two dead stars and one "living" star.
System details
About the discovered 3-star system
One of the dead stars is a pulsar that spins over 300 times a second, while the other is a white dwarf. The pulsar revolves around its partner every eight days.
A Sun-like star orbits this duo from a distance, completing its orbit in 73.5 years.
This discovery was reported by Han Jinlin and his team from Beijing's National Astronomical Observatories in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Research implications
Second known instance of such a system
The discovery is only the second known instance of such a system, after a US-led team's finding in 2014.
The researchers noted that "the detailed evolution of triple-star systems is complicated and poorly known."
This unique configuration makes it a candidate for studying how these star families evolve over time.
Pulsar mystery
Pulsar's unusual slowing led to discovery
Pulsars are among the universe's most accurate clocks, sending out radio wave beams like lighthouses.
However, this particular pulsar, first detected by FAST in 2020, was slowing down at an unusual rate.
A team from Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory found that its spin was decelerating about 100 times faster than other similar pulsars.
This finding contradicted standard theories of how such pulsars form and hinted at another star hidden in the system.
Discovery conclusion
Stars likely born together from same gas cloud
By combining FAST data with observations from other telescopes, including 18 years of gamma-ray data from NASA's Fermi space telescope, researchers identified the hidden Sun-like star.
This star's gravity affects the pulsar's spin, creating an illusion that its rotation is slowing down.
The three stars were likely born together from the same gas cloud and have aged at different speeds due to their varying masses.