An artist’s impression of the 1SWASP J093010.78+533859.5 star system. Image credit: Marcus Lohr
Posted on 07/23/2015 10:54:10 AM PDT by BenLurkin
An interesting multiple star discovery turned up in the ongoing hunt for exoplanetary systems.
The discovery was announced by Marcus Lohr of Open University early this month at the National Astronomy Meeting that was held at Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales.
The discovery involves as many as five stars in a single stellar system, orbiting in a complex configuration.
The name of the system, 1SWASP J093010.78+533859.5, is a phone number-style designation related to the SuperWASP exoplanet hunting transit survey involved with the discovery. The lengthy numerical designation denotes the system’s position in the sky in right ascension and declination in the constellation Ursa Major.
...
Astronomers use a technique known as spectroscopy to tease out the individual light spectra signatures of close binaries too distant to resolve individually. This method revealed the presence of a fifth star in orbit 2 billion kilometers (13.4 AUs, about 65% the average distance from Uranus to the Sun) around the detached pair.
“This is a truly exotic star system,” Lohr said in a Royal Society press release. “In principle, there’s no reason it couldn’t have planets in orbit around each of the pairs of stars.”
Indeed, ‘night’ would be a rare concept on any planet in a tight orbit around either binary pair. In order for darkness to occur, all five stellar components would have to appear near mutual conjunction, something that would only happen once every orbit for the hypothetical world.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
It certainly is a intriguing discovery.
Later I may have an comment.
Have a Five Sun Day.
Looks like we finally found Tatooine.
It really shouldn’t be surprising. Most stars are in binary systems.
Alpha Centauri is a 3 star system.
Can you imagine how complicated their daylight savings plan must be?
Kempler Rosette?
The Pearson Puppeteers. /humor
imagine trying to bank on solar power to supply the needs of your selenium farm out there on the 3rd planet from the systems barycenter
Please pass the SPF 5,000 sun screen.
Thanks BenLurkin.
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Seems similar to the system hypothesized for “Firefly”
With six, you get “Nightfall” by Asimov.
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