Self-Lensing Binary System And The Upside-Down Planet

What looked at first like a sort of upside-down planet in the binary star system KOI-3278 has instead revealed a new method for studying binary star systems, according to a University of Washington team who writes of the first "self-lensing" binary star system — one in which the mass of the closer star can be measured by how powerfully it magnifies light from its more distant companion star. Our sun stands alone but about 40 percent of similar stars are in binary (two-star) or multi-star systems, orbiting their companions in a gravitational dance. read more

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