Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
SAO 206462 Image Credit: NAOJ
Most intriguing and mysterious stars in our universe:
7) RZ Piscium – a star that eats its “offspring”
RZ Piscium is located 550 light-years away in the constellation Pisces. It brightens and dims erratically by as much as a tenth of its luminosity. It has also been found to emit large amounts of infrared radiation. This suggests substantial mass of gas and dust orbiting the star, possibly from a "disrupted planet".
Most sun-like stars lose their planet-forming discs, within a few million years of forming. The fact that RZ Piscium hosts so much dust and gas is probably because it is destroying and consuming rather than building planets.
6) SAO 206462
Galaxies with Spiral arms are common, but in 2011, astronomers stumbled upon a star with spiral arms. It is the star SAO 206462. 460 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Lupus. The presence of these spiral arms can be related to the existence of planets inside the disk of gas. The disk's diameter is about twice the size of the orbit of Pluto.
5) V886 Centauri – Lucy
It is a white dwarf in the constellation Centaurus and vibrates. These pulsations cause its luminosity to vary. Studies show that approximately 90% of its mass is crystallized, making it the largest known diamond. It is nicknamed Lucy after the Beatles' hit Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
4) Przybylski's Star
The star with exotic ultra-rare elements. It is a rapidly oscillating Ap star at 355 light-years from the Sun in the southern constellation of Centaurus. The star is highly over-abundant in lanthanides and exotic elements. It is the only star known star that contains the ultra-rare actinides. This is an almost impossible chemical makeup.
3) Mira aka Omicron Ceti
The star with a comet like tail. Mira has a tail 13 light-years long, composed of gases and dust released by Mira over the last 30,000 years. These gases and dust in its tail are about 3,000 times the mass of Earth.
2) Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse or Alpha Orionis. The next expected supernova. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant, 950 times the size of the Sun. It started dimming suddenly in October 2019. By February 2020 it lost two thirds in brilliance. A dimming visible even to the unaided eye. This created a buzz that it might be ready to explode. It has now regained its brightness. But it is expected to explode into a spectacular supernova, sometime "soon". An event that will be a spectacle for weeks or even months, even visible in day light.
1) Tabby’s star
Tabby's Star also known as Boyajian's Star and "WTF" Star, which here means "Where's the Flux". It has shown unpredictable and strange brightening and dimming up to 22%, which is unusual and unexplained. Multiple theories have been floating around to explain this strange behavior including an alien megastructure blocking it. Most likely explanation is a huge cloud of dust, but what kind of dust and why it is there remains to be answered.
SAO 206462 Image Credit: NAOJ
Most intriguing and mysterious stars in our universe:
7) RZ Piscium – a star that eats its “offspring”
RZ Piscium is located 550 light-years away in the constellation Pisces. It brightens and dims erratically by as much as a tenth of its luminosity. It has also been found to emit large amounts of infrared radiation. This suggests substantial mass of gas and dust orbiting the star, possibly from a "disrupted planet".
Most sun-like stars lose their planet-forming discs, within a few million years of forming. The fact that RZ Piscium hosts so much dust and gas is probably because it is destroying and consuming rather than building planets.
6) SAO 206462
Galaxies with Spiral arms are common, but in 2011, astronomers stumbled upon a star with spiral arms. It is the star SAO 206462. 460 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Lupus. The presence of these spiral arms can be related to the existence of planets inside the disk of gas. The disk's diameter is about twice the size of the orbit of Pluto.
5) V886 Centauri – Lucy
It is a white dwarf in the constellation Centaurus and vibrates. These pulsations cause its luminosity to vary. Studies show that approximately 90% of its mass is crystallized, making it the largest known diamond. It is nicknamed Lucy after the Beatles' hit Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
4) Przybylski's Star
The star with exotic ultra-rare elements. It is a rapidly oscillating Ap star at 355 light-years from the Sun in the southern constellation of Centaurus. The star is highly over-abundant in lanthanides and exotic elements. It is the only star known star that contains the ultra-rare actinides. This is an almost impossible chemical makeup.
3) Mira aka Omicron Ceti
The star with a comet like tail. Mira has a tail 13 light-years long, composed of gases and dust released by Mira over the last 30,000 years. These gases and dust in its tail are about 3,000 times the mass of Earth.
2) Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse or Alpha Orionis. The next expected supernova. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant, 950 times the size of the Sun. It started dimming suddenly in October 2019. By February 2020 it lost two thirds in brilliance. A dimming visible even to the unaided eye. This created a buzz that it might be ready to explode. It has now regained its brightness. But it is expected to explode into a spectacular supernova, sometime "soon". An event that will be a spectacle for weeks or even months, even visible in day light.
1) Tabby’s star
Tabby's Star also known as Boyajian's Star and "WTF" Star, which here means "Where's the Flux". It has shown unpredictable and strange brightening and dimming up to 22%, which is unusual and unexplained. Multiple theories have been floating around to explain this strange behavior including an alien megastructure blocking it. Most likely explanation is a huge cloud of dust, but what kind of dust and why it is there remains to be answered.
