Eclipse of three years

- Over three years, no sun in the sky. So far the system TYC 2505-672-1-look. All this time the star disappeared behind a thick cloud of gas. It is the longest eclipse ever measured.

US astronomers have discovered it. The system consists of two stars that revolve around each other. The big star is another star 'gutted'. The little star is turned into a gas cloud around a small core. Behind that cloud disappears the big star out of sight. The two stars are about as far apart as the sun and Uranus in our system. The stars are too far away to see if there planets revolve.

Scientists have to wait until they can see the eclipse at TYC 2505-672-1-again. The next eclipse is in fact in 2080. That's 69 years after the last eclipse. Even that long period in between is a record.

The eclipse record was held by the massive double star Epsilon Aurigae. That disappears every 27 years almost two years out of sight.

On Earth, the sun is eclipsed a few times a year. This happens when the moon is between the sun and the earth able. Such an eclipse takes a few seconds to a few minutes.