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This story was originally published by NASA and is unaltered.
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NASA’s Hubble Tracks Down a ‘Blue Lurker’ Among Stars [1]

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Date: 2025-01

Evolution of a "Blue Lurker" Star in a Triple System Panel 1: A triple star system containing three Sun-like stars. Two are very tightly orbiting. The third star has a much wider orbit. Panel 2: The close stellar pair spiral together and merge to form one more massive star. Panel 3: The merged star evolves into a giant star. As the huge photosphere expands, some of the material falls onto the outer companion, causing the companion to grow larger and its rotation rate to increase. Panels 4-5: The central merged star eventually burns out and forms a massive white dwarf, and the outer companion spirals in towards the white dwarf, leaving a binary star system with a tighter orbit. Panel 6: The surviving outer companion is much like our Sun but nicknamed a "blue lurker." Although it is slightly brighter bluer than expected because of the earlier mass-transfer from the central star and is now rotating very rapidly, these features are subtle. The star could easily be mistaken for a normal Sun-like star despite its exotic evolutionary history.

NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI)

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[1] Url: https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-tracks-down-a-blue-lurker-among-stars/

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