9. HV 2112
Found Year: 1908
It Was Discovered by Henrietta Leavitt
Place: The Little Magellanic Cloud
Buried inside the big star HV 2112 is a separate neutron star. It is thought by scientists that the star was once a double system before one of the stars “swallowed” the other. Henrietta Leavitt made the initial discovery of the star in 1908 as a variable star.
HV 2112 ©Hubble/Wikimedia/ESA
HV 2112 was thought to be a Thorne–Żytkow object (a hybrid star) until 2018. However, as of right now, scientists believe HV 2112 to be an asymptotic giant branch star, which is a star that resembles a brilliant red giant but has a luminosity that is a thousand times larger than that of the Sun.
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