PLanets in binary systems less likely?

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pyoko

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Are formed planets less likely to exist in binary star systems? Perhaps because it is harder to 'find' stable orbits in the gravitational mess?<br /><br />P.S. Please don't hit me. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="color:#ff9900" class="Apple-style-span">-pyoko</span> <span style="color:#333333" class="Apple-style-span">the</span> <span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span">duck </span></p><p><span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color:#808080;font-style:italic" class="Apple-style-span">It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.</span></span></p> </div>
 
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brellis

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In fact, a recent study found that planets are more likely to form in a binary system. Welcome to SDC! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>
 
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qso1

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Certainly orbits of planets in binary systems will be more elliptical meaning less stable conditions for potential life on possible earthlike worlds. But take Alpha Centauri for example. The binary companion "B" star orbits the primary star at a distance that varies. Coming in as close as Saturns orbit from the sun and as far as Uranus orbit from the sun.<br /><br />If a sunlike star were at the distance of Saturn, it would tug at the inner worlds making the orbits more elliptical than those found around the sun. This however, is no reason not to expect to find planets in binary systems. It may one day turn out that there are less planets because most of the material went into the coalesance of two stars rather than just one. But we won't really know till we start finding planetary systems around binary or multiple star systems. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>
 
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