Tsunamis 3 times the size of the sun 'could disintegrate' Earth

Scientists have detected huge waves in outer space that measure three times the size of our sun.

The waves are being formed on a star system called MACHO 80.7443.1718, found around 169,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

The waves are formed in a similar way to waves on Earth. Just like ones on our planet are formed due to the gravitational pull of the moon, a nearby celestial object stretches the star and causes enormous waves in the system MACHO 80.7443.1718.

Experts have studied the star’s unusual behaviour and published a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The experts stated that MACHO 80.7443.1718 contains a "heartbreak" star, which is a term they use to describe the way plasma is influenced by the pull of a nearby object to unleash incredible waves of energy.

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The sheer power of these waves is, itself, difficult to imagine. In fact, just one of them would end life on Earth in an instant.

"Each crash of the star’s towering tidal waves releases enough energy to disintegrate our entire planet several hundred times over," MacLeod said.

"This heartbreak star could just be the first of a growing class of astronomical objects," MacLeod added. "We’re already planning a search for more heartbreak stars, looking for the glowing atmospheres flung off by their breaking waves."

The scale in general is far beyond human comprehension – at least ours, anyway.

In fact, the waves of plasma measure around 2.5 million miles above the surface of the primary star – which itself has a radius of 10.4 million miles, around 24 times the size of the sun.

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