2.7 million kilometer high tsunami on the surface of the star!

We owe it to Newton for the first scientific and quantitative theory of tides on Earth. This theory was developed by Laplace (French Newton because of his contributions to mathematics and astronomy according to the British) in his treatise on celestial mechanics, and later by Poincaré. during the XX^I century, the theory of tides was transferred to both the other planets and stars of the Solar System, which is hardly surprising since it is not without reason that we speak of the theory of universal gravitation.

Thus we know that it is tidal forces that are responsible for the monstrous volcanism of Io, one of Jupiter’s main moons. As most stars in the Milky Way, and undoubtedly in other galaxies as well, are binary systems (see triplet and even sextuple), one might expect that significant tidal forces are exerted on each star member of such a system. . especially close to each other, sometimes to the extent of tearing the material from one into the other.

stars warped by tidal forces

Many such double stars have been observed, and observations by the Kepler satellite have shown that many such stars are called heartbeat stars. From Kepler’s point of view, we see that the light curves of these stars do not change periodically like variable stars that pulsate periodically.

The shape of the light curve is reminiscent of an electrocardiogram and we eventually understood that part of the pulsations observed were due to the fact that one of the stars is in a fairly elliptical orbit around the other, making it quite close to its companion. . star (heartbeat stars can only reach within a few stellar radii of each other). Just as the oceans on Earth take the form of a sort of rugby ball, an ellipsoid of rotation under the action of tidal forces, so do the surfaces of the two stars and as they are in motion, we can see them turn- Let’s take a look at the orientation of the brightest part due to the distortion of the surfaces of the two stars, which follow the motion of one around the other.

one of the mythological scenes ofinterstellar, The tidal forces exerted by the supermassive black hole Gargantua on the Miller planet give rise to giant tidal waves. © Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Syncopation Films

Today, two American astronomers concluded that the event took on terrifying proportions, with giant tidal waves building up on the surface of one of the stars in the Macho binary system 80.7443.1718. As its name suggests, it was discovered during the 1990s during a research campaign based on the theory of gravitational micro-lensing. it was about macho hunting massive astrophysical dense halo object) Hypothetical dense and dark objects, such as brown dwarfs or primordial black holes, that may rotate in the galactic halo and account for the nature of dark matter. When passing in front of a star, Macho was supposed to make it brighter for a moment with the lens effect.

2.7 million km high tidal waves occur every month

In the case of Macho 80.7443.1718, the peak in brightness initially observed turned out to be quite different, according to a press release from the Center for Astrophysics-Harvard & Smithsonian (CFA) in the United States. The close pass of the smallest star causes tidal waves on the largest star, which has a mass of about 35 solar masses, which is nothing to envy for those on the Miller planet. interstellar,

The resulting tidal waves are about one-fifth the radius of the giant star, which is equivalent to waves as high as three Suns stacked on top of each other, or about 2.7 million kilometers!

This makes Morgan McLeod, who did a numerical simulation with Abraham (Avi) Loeb, famous for his claims about ET and who is co-author with McLeod of an article. nature astronomy , Each collision of the star’s giant tidal waves releases enough energy to disintegrate our entire planet several hundred times! ,

No wonder that upon its discovery, the binary puzzled astrophysicists. The luminosity of heartbeat stars typically varies by only 0.1%, whereas in the case of Mach 80.7443.1718, it is about 20%, a number never seen before.

The crash of a giant breaker on the surface of the main star occurs every month and according to numerical simulations this creates an ejection of material over the star that feeds an atmospheric shell that begins to glow in a characteristic way, giving a signature Get. giant breaker event

A Harvard press release noted that in fact the case of Macho 80.7443.1718 should not be unique as it has recently been understood that of the approximately 1,000 heartbeat stars discovered so far, only about twenty have large luminosities close to the system. Ups and downs do exist. Simulated by MacLeod and Loeb.