Friday, July 31, 2026
Science

Reanalysis suggests 'Phoebe' is a variable star, not a primordial black hole

A new study debunks a recent claim that astronomers may have detected a lunar-mass primordial black hole. In a reanalysis of observations from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), researchers found that the star nicknamed "Phoebe" was simply doing something ordinary that many stars do: changing its brigh...

Reanalysis suggests 'Phoebe' is a variable star, not a primordial black hole
Image: Phys.org
A new study debunks a recent claim that astronomers may have detected a lunar-mass primordial black hole. In a reanalysis of observations from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), researchers found that the star nicknamed "Phoebe" was simply doing something ordinary that many stars do: changing its brightness naturally over time. The new findings have been reported in a paper posted to the arXiv preprint server on June 17.

Originally published at Phys.org

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