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

[Admin]

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' discovered whirling through the Milky Way : Read more

 

[rod]

Very interesting report on this six star system. I find the arXiv paper very useful, 26 pages, https://arxiv.org/pdf/2101.03433.pdf

Table 7 on page 22 has geeky details for the six stars parameters or properties (masses 0.56 to 1.3 solar masses). The abstract states "As a consequence of its rare composition, structure, and orientation, this object can provide important new insight into the formation, dynamics, and evolution of multiple star systems."

The topic of multiple star formation systems is debated still, "TIC 168789840 is a fascinating system that naturally merits additional observation and analysis. Though quite similar to the famous Castor system, the "triplet" nature of TIC 168789840 combined with the presence of three primary and three secondary eclipses enable further investigations into its stellar formation and evolution. Remarkable objects like TIC 168789840 or Castor give us insights on the formation of multiple systems a matter of active research and debate.", page 21 of the report.

 

[sam85geo]

This article reports a remarkable, mindboggling event . I have this mental image of those whirling stars as Vodka fueled Russian folk dancers all squatted down and thrusting out their legs in time to wildly fast music as they circle one another. I can't even begin to image the mathematics of such a system. (I plan to access the pdf referenced, but any shortcuts to the math would be appreciated).