KOI-3278: A Self-Lensing Binary Star System

Understand

Over 40% of Sun-like stars are bound in binary or multistar systems.

• Stellar remnants in edge-on binary systems can gravitationally magnify their companions, as predicted 40 years ago.
• By using data from the Kepler spacecraft, we report the detection of such a "self-lensing" system, in which a 5-hour pulse of 0.1% amplitude occurs every orbital period.
• The white dwarf stellar remnant and its Sun-like companion orbit one another every 88.18 days, a long period for a white dwarf-eclipsing binary.