Program: GS-2025A-Q-413

Heartbeat Variability, which consists of tidal distortion in eccentric binaries, has evolved from a novel discovery from Kepler light curves over a decade ago to a well studied phenomenon. These systems, apart from their unusual shape, are inherently useful as they allow for the determination of the inclination of a system without the need for eclipses. This becomes extremely important for massive stars (i.e., Mini>8 Msol), where the relative scarcity of such objects makes determining their fundamental parameters particularly challenging. This is further compounded with evolved massive stars. Recently, observations of the binary system MACHO 80.7443.1718, which contains a supergiant star, revealed heartbeat variability with unusually large amplitudes — far exceeding what a typical heartbeat signal can explain. This unexpected behavior has led to several theories attempting to account for the observed variability. We have found 6 objects which have variability resembling that of MACHO 80.7443.1718. We are proposing to use high resolution from GHOST and MAROON-X to confirm binarity and probe the underlying cause of these unusual systems.