James Davenport
January 10, 2023
The seven-year photobomb: Distant star’s dimming was likely a ‘dusty’ companion getting in the way, astronomers say
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University of Washington astronomers were on the lookout for “stars behaving strangely” when an automated alert from pointed them to Gaia17bpp, a star that had gradually brightened over a 2 1/2-year period. But follow-up analyses indicated that Gaia17bpp wasn’t changing. Instead, the star is likely part of a rare type of binary system. Its apparent brightening was the end of a years-long eclipse by an unusual, “dusty” stellar companion.
August 5, 2021
Superflares may be less harmful to exoplanets than previously thought, study shows
![an artists depiction of a small star with a planet orbiting it](https://uw-s3-cdn.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/04153439/flare_red_dwarf_exoplanet_web-150x150.jpg)
Astronomers have long suspected that superflares, extreme radiation bursts from stars, can cause lasting damage to the atmospheres — and thus habitability — of exoplanets. A new study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society reports that they pose only a limited danger to planetary systems.
January 14, 2021
Astronomers document the rise and fall of a rarely observed stellar dance
![An image of stars in the night sky, showing a particularly bright binary at the center called HS Hydra.](https://uw-s3-cdn.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/01/14111124/HS-Hydra-150x150.jpg)
Astronomers have catalogued 126 years of changes to a binary star system called HS Hydrae. Analyzing observations from astro-photographic plates in the late 1800s to TESS observations in 2019, they show that the two stars in HS Hydrae began to eclipse each other starting around a century ago, peaking in the 1960s. The degree of eclipsing then plummeted over the course of just a half century, and will cease around February 2021.
January 3, 2018
Space dust, not aliens: Two UW astronomers assist in new research on ‘mysterious’ star
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UW astronomers Brett Morris and James Davenport assisted in new research on “Tabby’s Star,” named for Louisiana State University astronomer Tabetha Boyajian.