Citizen scientists find new eclipsing binary stars
When two stars orbit one another in such a way that one blocks the other's light each time it swings around, that's an eclipsing binary. A new paper from NASA's Eclipsing Binary Patrol citizen science project presents more than 10,000 of these rare pairs—10,001 to be precise. These objects will help future researchers study the physics and formation of stars and search for new exoplanets.
When two stars orbit one another in such a way that one blocks the other's light each time it swings around, that's an eclipsing binary. A new paper from NASA's Eclipsing Binary Patrol citizen science project presents more than 10,000 of these rare pairs—10,001 to be precise. These objects will help future researchers study the physics and formation of stars and search for new exoplanets.
