Posted on 09/04/2020 1:41:21 PM PDT by MtnClimber
This could be the first known planet in the universe to orbit three suns at once.
Perched on the tip of Orion's nose, there spins a solar system that could give Tatooine — Luke Skywalker's twin-sunned homeworld — a run for its money.
Known as GW Orionis (or GW Ori) and located about 1,300 light-years from Earth, the system is a rare example of a triple-star solar system, with two suns orbiting one another at the center, and a third star swirling around its siblings from several hundred million miles away. Scientists previously identified the system by its three bright rings of planet-forming dust, nested inside one another like a massive orange bullseye in the sky.
Now, a closer analysis reveals that the rings may hold more than just dust; according to two recent studies, published today (Sept. 3) in the journal Science and May 21 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, there could be a young planet, or the makings of one, bulging up inside the rings and throwing off the whole system's gravitational balance. The presence of such a planet would not only help explain why the system's inner ring appears to be wobbling around wildly like a broken gyroscope — but, if confirmed, the distant world would also become the first known example of a single planet orbiting three suns at once, the researchers said.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I wonder how Betelguese is doing?
Say that two more times.
If we’re the only life in this universe I would say earth would take the rarest prize.
Lol good one.
Wonder if it’s mildly salty...
Doing fine and running Chicago last I heard...
I wonder what’s going on at the shoulder of Orion?
Or you could visit the Alpha Centauri triple system and save 1296 light years. What’s it like to live in a triple sun system - one possibility is presented in “The Three Body Problem” by Cixin Liu
Rarest planet in the universe?
But, but, but....the universe is supposedly infinite.
Not only should there be another planet just like this somewhere else, there should be an infinite number of them.
One day closer to hitting CTRL ALT DELETE.
its called covid 19
Wuhan Booger? Did it test positive?
” ... lead a snot into temptation ...”
Susan Oliver as the Orion slave girl Vina in the Star Trek episode "The Cage".
okay that’s worse.
“If the bitch is green, there must be something wrong with the p_ssy!” - Eddie Murphy
A cosmic booger?
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