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Nemeski ( neme@lemm.ee )  to Astronomy@mander.xyz · 2 years ago

"Big surprise": astronomers find planet in perpendicular orbit around pair of stars

www.eso.org

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"Big surprise": astronomers find planet in perpendicular orbit around pair of stars

www.eso.org

Nemeski ( neme@lemm.ee )  to Astronomy@mander.xyz · 2 years ago
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Astronomers have found a planet that orbits at an angle of 90 degrees around a rare pair of peculiar stars. This is the first time we have strong evidence for one of these ‘polar planets’ orbiting a stellar pair. The surprise discovery was made using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).
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  • MNByChoice ( MNByChoice@midwest.social ) 
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    2 years ago

    Cool. Space is really cool. Keep up the good work Astronomers. Love the cool things you find.

  • Rhaedas ( Rhaedas@fedia.io ) 
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    2 years ago

    Given there are known polar planetary discs, and this orbit seems stable, wouldn’t that suggest that polar systems are formed because of some past interaction between the two stars that disrupted them from the original plane of formation?

    • NaibofTabr ( NaibofTabr@infosec.pub ) 
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      2 years ago

      The planet could be a capture.

      • Rhaedas ( Rhaedas@fedia.io ) 
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        2 years ago

        Possibly. I didn’t dive in deeper to see if they even know the shape of the orbit. From my understanding a capture is very unlikely to have a near circular orbit. But planetary discs definitely aren’t captures, so something changed the stars in those.

  • anguo ( anguo@lemmy.ca ) 
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    2 years ago

    Isn’t that literally the premise of the Three Body Problem?

    • Bldck ( Bldck@beehaw.org ) 
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      2 years ago

      Not exactly. In the novel/tv show the Three Bodies are stars that are interacting with a fourth object, the planet Trisolaris.

      Because the movements of the three suns are unpredictable, they never know when the climate of the planet will be habitable.

      • anguo ( anguo@lemmy.ca ) 
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        2 years ago

        Yes, I remember now that I thought “that’s a four body problem” when I read it.

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