About Heartbeat Stars:

• Heartbeat Star refers to special type of binary stars. Each star travels in a highly elliptical orbit around a common centre of mass.
• The distance between the two stars varies drastically as they orbit each other.
• When the stars are at their closest, there is a sudden increase in the brightness, with amplitude going up significantly.
• As they move apart, the light variation falls and becomes almost flat.
• This results in alternating peaks and troughs in their light curves.
• This pattern resembles the appearance of heat beat on an electrocardiogram of the human heart.
• Scientists have recently discovered a binary star named HD73619 in the Cancer constellation.

Source: EPIC January 2022