In 1952, a Group of Three "Stars" Vanished. Astronomers Still Can't Find Them (universetoday.com)

It sounds from the article like this is something that happened frequently in the 1950s? Has it been observed since?

If not, the “radioactive dust” hypothesis seems to make a lot of sense.

Cross-eyed the picture i can say there is more than 3 just spots.

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Pandora's Star, a trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton describes a situation where two stars suddenly turn off and humans goes investigating. My favourite character is Paula Myo.