This star – called KIC 5520878 – is a type of periodic variable star known as an "RRc Lyrae" variable. It pulsates at a large number of frequencies that are all related to two frequencies – f1 and f2 – that have a golden ratio. The golden ratio or "golden mean" is an irrational number that has significance in geometry, biology and art. Its presence in a dynamical system can mean that the system behaves as a "strange non-chaotic attractor". In this case, "strange" means that the system can be characterized as fractal, and "non-chaotic" means that the dynamics falls in the middle ground between order and chaos.
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