Two suns and one planet?

[enigmatic_enigma]

I know I'm taking this possibility from Sci-Fi, but is it really possible that a habitable planet would have two suns like Tatooine in Star Wars or that planet in Pitch Black?

 

[petepan]

lets hope we dont look at Alpha Centuari with 16 planets <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

[yevaud]

Yes, though the orbits can become a bit complicated with two suns (the first case Eddie mentioned). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

I realize it was a sci-fi story, but Asimov had 2 stars orbiting each other about 1 AU apart, and had a earth like planet 1 AU from either star (big triangle,ok?). Probably pretty unlikely to form that way, but seems like if it did form, it would be a stable relationship. Neat setting for a story. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[alpha_taur1]

Nightfall - right? One of my favourite short stories by Asimov.

 

[vogon13]

Sucker Bait, actually. Planet turned out to be contaminated with beryllium and all the colonists who went there died. Nightfall planet had 5 or 6 suns IIRC. Nightfall, beyond excellent, Sucker Bait, a lesser effort, but still nicely readable. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[Saiph]

the orbit is sufficiently stable if the ratio between the two stars orbital axis and the planets is a 3:1 ratio (one way or the other) or greater.<br /><br />IIRC.<br /><br />So Asimov's system wouldn't have been stable. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[kmarinas86]

You could have a small star orbiting a really large star with a gas giant orbiting the small star and several moons orbiting the gas giant <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" />

 

[vogon13]

Thanks for the info, Saiph. That would be a rare goof from Asimov. IIRC the double star thing was a red herring in the plot, anyhow, the real problem was the beryllium poisoning. That part he got right. Beryllium was used in the first florescent lights and there were some problems with it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[nexium]

We have observed some very dense star clusters, Common sence says they should frequently eject a smaller mass by slingshot manuver resulting from a near miss of a very massive star, or compact star. Perhaps these clusters ejected stars and planets until the probability of another ejection is low. Earthlike planets may orbit several of these stars in almost random patterns. This is speculation, but if low mass stars have been retained in the midst of others with 20 times their mass; why not some planets? Neil

 

[heyscottie]

But even in these "very dense" star clusters, stars are still spread by quite a distance. Does anybody know the average distance in some of these clusters? I suspect it's still on the order of a L.Y. This is a lot bigger separation than even a wide binary star...

 

[Saiph]

with the excpetion of that odd supercluster we've found....very odd. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p align="center"><font color="#c0c0c0"><br /></font></p><p align="center"><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">--------</font></em></font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">----</font></em></font><font color="#666699">SaiphMOD@gmail.com </font><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">-------------------</font></em></font></p><p><font color="#999999"><em><font size="1">"This is my Timey Wimey Detector.  Goes "bing" when there's stuff.  It also fries eggs at 30 paces, wether you want it to or not actually.  I've learned to stay away from hens: It's not pretty when they blow" -- </font></em></font><font size="1" color="#999999">The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[nikanj]

Found this answer at: <br /><br />http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/dec97/878075280.As.r.html<br /><br />Area: Astronomy<br />Posted By: Sara Seager, grad student,Harvard University<br />Date: Mon Oct 27 17:04:29 1997<br />Area of science: Astronomy<br />ID: 876747336.As Message:<br /><br />Planets can evolve in a binary star system but only for certain configurations. Most configurations are unstable, meaning a planet cannot exist and will be flung out of the solar system, or sucked into one of the stars.<br /><br />One of the new planets in another solar system, 16 Cyg b, is a planet orbiting a star where the star is part of a very wide binary system. The second star is 1000 AU away (1 AU = distance between the Earth and the Sun = 150 million km) from the parent star and so it has almost no gravitational effect on the planet.<br /><br />The other case where a planet can evolve in a binary star system is when the binary stars are very close together and the planet is orbiting both stars at a large distance.<br /><br />Recent calculations show that stable orbits can exist for the above 2 cases for the distance ratio of sun-planet/sun-2nd star to be 1/7 or 7/1. In other words either the 2nd star has to be 7 times farther away than the planet, or the planet has to be 7 times away than the 2nd binary star and orbit around both stars. Otherwise the gravitational forces are disruptive.<br /><br />Binary star formation isn't yet well understood. Planets arise out of the dust and gas of the circumstellar disk, and some scientists think they have observations of separate circumstellar disks for binary stars evolving together. <br /><br />Here's another reference:<br /><br />http://www.binaryresearchinstitu...2002.shtml<br /><br />For further information contact:<br />Lewis M. Phelps, Sitrick and Company<br />(310) 788-2850<br /><br />Is

 

[thugfella]

two times hotter? but the real question is what will hapen when they both become red giants and explode.

 

[nikanj]

This website, sponsored by NASA and EOS, contains a lot of information about binary systems. It seems as if our solar system is more the uncommon situation -- having but one star.<br /><br />No expert (that I've found), has been able to detect planets around any star -- most Earth-type planets are too small and have too weak of a gravitational pull to be detected using current technologies.<br /><br />http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect20/A5.html<br /><br />So, is there life out there? It's still science fiction, but experts do lean towards yes because the stars they are finding, like Upsilon Andromadae and Alpha Centauri, are very similiar to our own G Type sun. If our G type sun can support life, there is a great chance that other similiar stars can as well.<br /><br />N.