Astronomers Discover Binary System with Record-Breaking Orbital Period

The binary system, located 2,760 light-years from Earth, features a white dwarf and the smallest star ever observed, completing an orbit every 20.5 minutes.

• Astronomers have discovered a binary system, TMTS J0526, with a white dwarf and the smallest star ever observed, completing an orbit every 20.5 minutes.
• The system was identified using the Tsinghua University-Ma Huateng Telescope for Survey, located roughly 2,760 light-years from Earth.
• The discovery could shed light on the formation of hot subdwarf stars and the process of common envelope ejection in binary systems.
• The tiny star, a hot subdwarf, is just seven times as wide as Earth, making it smaller than the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn.
• This binary system's extraordinarily short orbital period provides the first observational evidence for the formation of tiny hot subdwarf stars through secondary common envelope ejection.

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