Astronomers have discovered a binary system of red dwarfs with a strange elongated orbit

Red dwarfs are small and relatively cool stars, the mass of which is about three times less than that of

stars They are the most common type of star in the Universe—red dwarfs are often orbited by exoplanets that resemble Earth in their characteristics.

Sometimes red dwarfs form binary systems,which are composed of stars rotating a short distance around each other. Of greatest interest to scientists are darkened binary systems in which one red dwarf periodically covers another at an angle equal to the angle of observation of the system.

In a new study, astronomers manageddetect such a system with the Next Generation Transit Survey telescope. It is called NGTS J214358.5-380102 and is located 390 light-years from Earth.

Observations have shown that the two are almost identicalThe red dwarfs in it rotate in a strange, elongated orbit. Typically, in such systems, both objects have an almost circular orbit, and scientists have not yet observed deviations like NGTS J214358.5-380102.

Astronomers do not yet know what the anomaly is connected with - probably, a third object is present in the system. Further observations will answer this question.

Astronomers first measured wind speedon a brown dwarf. The technique, developed by researchers from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, will measure wind speed on other stars outside the solar system.