A three-million-mile-high tsunami hits a "heartbroken" star system.

From weird stars to weird worlds, and other strange objects that can't be explained, the universe keeps surprising us. Now, astronomers have discovered a "broken heart" star system in which tidal waves three times larger than the Sun surge and crash into the surface of a giant star due to the motion of a smaller companion star.

The star system, called MACHO 80.7443.1718, belongs to a group of stars known as "heartbeat" stars because they tend to pulsate at a steady rhythm. However, this is the most extreme example known, and its brightness fluctuates by about 20% per episode, which is 200 times greater than most stars. As a result, it has been nicknamed the Heartbreak Star.

In the new study, scientists at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics examined why this system fluctuates so wildly.