Around 1,350 light-years away from Earth is a star called TOI-2155. It’s a little bigger, heavier, and hotter than the Sun, and it’s not particularly interesting or unusual in itself.
But orbiting around TOI-2155 is something very interesting indeed: a much smaller object called TOI-2155b, which we only know about by observing the tiny changes in light from the host star when the smaller object passes in front of it.
What is TOI-2155b? A mini-star? A giant planet? Or something in between? I’m glad you asked.
As my collaborators and I write in a recent paper in The Astronomical Journal, we’re not yet sure whether TOI-2155b is quite a star. But it seems to live on the fascinating boundary between a celestial beacon blazing through the heavens and a failed star that never quite ignites sustained hydrogen fusion.
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