How a double sunset might look on the surface of an exoplanet in a binary system (NASA/JPL)
Posted on 10/24/2010 8:14:07 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
How a double sunset might look on the surface of an exoplanet in a binary system (NASA/JPL)
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But the very existence of Inrakluk has called into question our understanding about how planetary systems form.tee hee.
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Just lovely.
i would of thought two stars of that size and that proximity would have to merge...
Shades of Star Wars and Tatooine.
bump
interesting
which star does it orbit?
yes it is
I wish! I love sci-fi and always have. Once hooked there is no cheating.
The correct answer is that it orbits the barycentric point of the entire system.
That’ll be 20 dollars.
Wouldn’t it orbit both?
How would that work exactly, a figure 8 orbit?
As the mass of the third object the Jupiter size planet is negligible, the easiest way to understand the problem is to treat it as a two body problem, where you have the entire mass of the two suns centred at the barycenter, and the planet orbiting around both of them.
How do I know this? Both suns are on the same side, and very close to one another. In a figure 8, which is a restricted but possible solution, you’d see sunsets and sunrises on opposite sides of the sky, as the planet would pass between the stars.
http://faculty.ifmo.ru/butikov/ManyBody.pdf
Read this to get a better idea of the different ‘classes’ of possible orbits.
That’ll be another 20 dollars.
It's pretty cheeky to be demanding payment when you haven't answered the question.
Check out the PDF link.
A figure 8 is one of many possibilities of ‘restricted’ orbit values.
The most common orbit is to have the planet orbiting well outside of both stars.
He answered it in post 13. The planet will orbit the point around which both stars also orbit. Since the two stars are fairly close together, the planet will orbit outside both of them, and will have a fairly eccentric orbit. If the stars are widely separated, a figure-8 is possible, though very unlikely.
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