Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have detected pulsation patterns in the so-called Delta Scuti stars, a large group of pulsating stars of intermediate mass. The discovery will revolutionize astronomers’ ability to study details like the ages, sizes and compositions of these stars.
Delta Scuti stars are young pulsating stars with masses between 1.5 and 2.5 solar masses. They’re named after Delta Scuti, a star visible to the human eye in the southern constellation of Scutum that was first identified as variable in 1900.
Since then, astronomers have identified thousands more like Delta Scuti, many with NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope.
