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A group of Indian Scientists have spotted a peculiar binary star that shows a heartbeat but no pulsations.

Major Findings of the study

• The star spotted has been named HD73619 in Praesepe (M44), located in the Cancer constellation which is one of the closest open star clusters to the Earth. 
• There are 180 stars known to have heartbeats.
• These heartbeat stars are binary systems where each star travels in a highly elliptical orbit around the common centre of mass. 
• The scientists inferred that the pulsation activity of these stars is due to the oscillations in the component stars when they are closest to each other. Chemically this makes it evident that such oscillations happen due to the abundance of heavier elements on their surface. 
• The newly discovered heartbeat star is accompanied by a weak magnetic field or no magnetic field. 

Importance of the Discovery

• This research has been a result of the Nainital-Cape survey which is one of the longest ground-based surveys to search and study the pulsation variability of the stars. This study was carried out in collaboration with the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Cape Town. 
• This is an exemplary step that reveals India’s progress in the field of space sciences and its growing engagement with international communities in the same context.