Supersonic tsunamis 3 times as tall as our sun are breaking on a distant 'heartbreak star'

An artist's illustration of two glowing blue stars against the dark background of space, one smaller and one larger. They appear to be connected by a wispy trail of stellar material arising from the larger one.

A massive stellar behemoth is experiencing violent waves three times as tall as our sun crashing down on its surface. Known as a "heartbeat star," the extreme object also periodically pulses in brightness as the gravity of a close companion stretches it into an oblate shape. 

In fact, this particular heartbeat star's immense waves are being raised by that unseen companion as it swoops by on a highly elliptical orbit every 32.8 days. Just like how the moon's gravity serves as the primary source of Earth’s tides by pulling our planet's oceans around with it, the gravity of this heartbeat star's companion whips up material from the stellar body, then drags it around at supersonic speeds to form titanic waves.