RCgothic 2,001 Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 (edited) https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/planetary-sleuthing-finds-triple-star-world It seems like NASA have detected a planet in a Trinary Star System! Edited January 12 by RCgothic Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NFUN 393 Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 As if 2020 weren't bad enough, we're about to enter into the Crisis Era. Great. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mitchz95 1,014 Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 Technically, it orbits one star in a trinary system. Much like Vulcan. Still, very cool! I wonder how its orbit got so inclined. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K^2 2,526 Posted January 13 Share Posted January 13 Haven't we already had confirmed planets in the Alpha Centauri system? Which is technically a ternary with Proxima being loosely bound to the AB binary. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cubinator 8,501 Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 (edited) Yes, Proxima has a confirmed planet. This one is in perhaps a more exciting configuration with respect to its suns, though. Here's a diagram from the article: The two main suns orbit each other every 30 years, so I'm sure they're both fairly bright in the planet's sky. The fact that the planet's not in planar alignment with the other stars is intriguing and raises the question of how the system developed. There are probably planets which orbit all three suns in a system like this, but they would be so dim they'd be impossible to see with our telescopes. Edited January 15 by cubinator Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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