India, Feb. 13 -- An international team of astronomers has observed one of the longest and most unusual stellar dimming events ever recorded, caused by a giant ring system around a brown dwarf companion of the star ASASSN-24fw located about 3,000 light-years away in the Monoceros constellation (a faint constellation in the night sky located on the equator of the Milky Way).

ASASSN-24fw is a star a little bigger and heavier than our Sun. It is an F-type, main-sequence star which means it is hot, bright, and stable and not prone to sudden explosions. Normally it shines steadily but between late 2024 and mid-2025, it dimmed for about nine months losing almost 3% of its light which is unusual for stars like this. Unlike most stellar eclipses...