Latest news with #Tatooine-like
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
What would it be like living on Tatooine from 'Star Wars'? This exoplanet orbiting twin suns could tell us
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A Tatooine-like world with a key difference from the desert planet in "Star Wars" has been serendipitously discovered orbiting not two stars, but a pair of brown dwarfs. What's more, this wacky planet doesn't orbit around the brown dwarfs' equator, but instead up and down over their poles. In the "Star Wars" universe, Luke Skywalker famously came from the planet of Tatooine, which had two suns and double sunsets. Tatooine is in a circumbinary orbit, which means that it doesn't orbit one star, but instead orbits both stars of a binary system. Binary systems are common in our Milky Way galaxy — about two-thirds of all stars (and brown dwarfs) are found in binary systems. Yet given the near ubiquity of these stellar pairs, very few planets have been discovered on circumbinary orbits — just 16 up until now. Those 16 all orbit around the equatorial plane of their double star system — such orbits are said to be 'co-planar'. This is just one of the reasons that this new Tatooine-like planet, which is 118 light years away and called 2M1510(AB)b, is rather unique. Another reason is that it orbits two brown dwarfs (which also happen to eclipse each other from our point of view, and are only the second pair of eclipsing brown dwarfs to have been found). Brown dwarfs are sometimes referred to as 'failed stars' — they are objects that form like a star by collapsing directly out of a molecular gas cloud, but which are not massive enough to generate the temperatures and pressures required at their core for hydrogen-based fusion reactions. The concept of planets on polar orbits isn't entirely surprising. Previous studies have discovered planets on polar orbits around single stars, while the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile has observed dusty protoplanetary disks tilted around young binary stars. However, 2M1510(AB)b is the first bonafide planet to be found on a circumbinary polar orbit. "Our expectation is that the planet would have formed in an inclined disc, such as those observed by ALMA," said Amaury Triaud, a professor of astronomy at the University of Birmingham, UK, in an interview with Triaud was part of the research team that discovered this planet. There are, however, some caveats. One is the planet's distance from the brown dwarfs, which at this current time is unknown. If it is too far away, then the disk from which it formed would have been harder to tilt. In this case, alternative ideas would have to be considered, such as an interaction with a passing star. We don't know the orbital period of 2M1510(AB)b, nor its diameter and mass, because this planet wasn't discovered in a conventional way. Triaud is part of a team led by Thomas Baycroft, who is a PhD student at Birmingham. They were targeting the brown dwarfs with the Very Large Telescope in Chile, with the aim of constraining the two brown dwarf's orbital parameters around each other. But they began to notice the very subtle effect of the brown dwarfs being tugged this way and that by an unseen body. Putting their data into various models, they found that the best explanation is that of a large planet, between 10 and 100 times the mass of Earth, on a polar orbit aligned 90 degrees to the equatorial plane of the brown dwarfs. Intriguingly, a circumbinary polar orbit is more stable than a co-planar orbit, says Triaud. This is not necessarily the case for planets on polar orbits around single stars. "We still do not fully understand why certain planets orbiting single stars are on polar orbits, and since what we've found is the first polar circumbinary geometry, we also do not know much about it," he said. "For single stars, the planetary orbit could have misaligned, or the stellar rotation axis could have moved. A final scenario, which I am very skeptical about, is that polar planets orbiting single stars were once circumbinary planets themselves, with the two stars coalescing." Audiences have been wowed over the years by Tatooine's double sunset in Star Wars, and planets in circumbinary orbits do have different diurnal and seasonal patterns compared to Earth. On a circumbinary planet, the length of day would depend upon how far apart the stars are in the sky at any one time. At their widest angular separation, the days would last longer than when the stars are close together in the sky. Also think about their orbits. The two stars are orbiting the center of mass between them, and a circumbinary planet orbits both stars as they move about this center of mass. As the planet orbits around them, it will at different times find itself closer to one star than the other, and at other times be equidistant to both stars. This dance of stars and planet would undoubtedly have an effect on the planet's climate. "A circumbinary planet experiences a sort of seasonal modulation, on roughly the timescale of the binary orbit, or half of it," said Triaud. There's lots of potential permutations here. If both stars are of similar mass, then the planet will experience winter when it is closer to just one of them, and summer when they are equidistant. If they have different masses, say a sun-like star and a cool, feeble red dwarf, then the warmer seasons would occur when a circumbinary planet is closer to the more massive star. It's even plausible that a planet could dip in and out of the habitable zone — it would be inside the habitable zone when it's closer to the more massive star, and out when it is nearer the smaller, cooler star. But how would a circumbinary planet on a polar orbit fare? "A polar planet would also feel a little like this since the stars constantly move and change distance relative to the planet, but the effect would be reduced compared to a co-planar situation," said Triaud. RELATED STORIES: — New Tatooine-like exoplanet discovered orbiting twin suns. Meet BEBOP-1c. — How common are Tatooine worlds? — Astronomers discover doomed planet shedding a Mount Everest's worth of material every orbit, leaving behind a comet-like tail The 2M1510 system also has a third brown dwarf farther out that the planet does not orbit. It is unlikely that there would be life on 2M1510(AB)b — brown dwarfs are far too cool to keep a planet warm enough for liquid water. Luke Skywalker's homeworld of Tatooine is a dry desert world, with very subtle seasons. During the double sunset, we see two sun-like stars close together. Perhaps they are on a tight orbit around one another, meaning their distance from the planet stays fairly similar. Luke found life on Tatooine to be boring, but he should be glad, because as we have seen, binary stars have the potential to play all kinds of havoc on their orbiting circumbinary planets. The discovery of this first-ever circumbinary polar planet was published on April 16 in Science Advances.
Toronto Star
01-05-2025
- Science
- Toronto Star
Planet Nine? Scientists uncover new evidence of a massive planet hidden in our solar system
A new look through decades-old data has unveiled some of the most compelling evidence yet of a hidden ninth planet in the far reaches of our solar system, far beyond the bounds of Neptune and the dwarf planet Pluto. The findings hint at an enormous astral body more massive than Neptune, located hundreds of times further from the sun than Earth. Astronomers have been hunting for the elusive planet ever since it was proposed in 2016 as a cause for the unusual clustering of objects in the Kuiper Belt, a doughnut-shaped disc of icy objects off the orbit of Neptune. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW World Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists say NEW YORK (AP) — A new Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists reported Wednesday. World Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists say NEW YORK (AP) — A new Tatooine-like planet outside the solar system may orbit two failed stars, scientists reported Wednesday. At the time, this so-called 'Planet Nine' was believed to be 10 times more massive than Earth, with an orbit so far out that a single trip around the sun would take around 10,000 to 20,000 years. But astronomers have struggled to capture strong visual evidence of the planet — until now. 'The moment I found a truly promising candidate after months of unsuccessful attempts, I was so excited that I couldn't wait until the next day to share the result with my adviser,' Terry Phan, the lead author of the study and an astronomer with Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University, wrote over email. 'I have a dream to become a 'planet hunter,' and that will become true if our candidate is exactly a planet.' The team's paper has been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. The preprint was posted last week on arXiv, an open-access archive. On the hunt for Planet Nine At its great distance, Planet Nine would reflect only a hint of sunlight — far too dim for observation. But its faint thermal radiation might be visible to infrared sensors. Canada Canadian astronomers discover new, volcano-covered exoplanet that may support life The Earth-sized planet, named LP 791-18d, sits on the inner edge of the habitable zone of a red dwarf star about 90 light years away. Canada Canadian astronomers discover new, volcano-covered exoplanet that may support life The Earth-sized planet, named LP 791-18d, sits on the inner edge of the habitable zone of a red dwarf star about 90 light years away. Thus, Phan's team of international astronomers scoured through two archived, far-infrared all-sky surveys from space telescopes, taken 23 years apart, in search of any hint of the planet. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Remarkably, out of around two million objects, 13 potential candidates for Planet Nine were discovered. Each were 500 to 700 times further out than the distance from Earth to the sun, and measured seven to 17 times the mass of the Earth. The researchers found each candidate by comparing the two sky-surveys, looking for objects found by the first scan that appeared to have moved by the time the second scan took place. This distance was relatively tiny, given the colossal length of time it would take Planet Nine to orbit the sun. After rigorous analysis, including visual inspection, 'most of these turned out to be false positives,' Phan said. 'However, we identified one promising candidate that is consistent with the expected properties of Planet Nine.' Is this thing really Planet Nine? Canada Space debris is cluttering our orbit. Can falling space junk hit a plane? A new paper by University of British Columbia researchers paints a stark picture of the risks of space debris on commercial flights. Canada Space debris is cluttering our orbit. Can falling space junk hit a plane? A new paper by University of British Columbia researchers paints a stark picture of the risks of space debris on commercial flights. Phan admits his team can't determine the orbit of their candidate through the two sky-surveys alone: 'Only with a well-constrained orbit can we confirm whether our candidate is indeed Planet Nine,' he said. 'To constrain its trajectory and verify its nature, follow-up observations are essential.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW In this regard, he said his team is working on an observation proposal for the Dark Energy Camera to hopefully better view the potential planet and more-accurately calculate its orbit. Meanwhile, some astronomers are skeptical of Phan's results. Mike Brown, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology who first proposed Planet Nine nearly a decade ago, told Science that the team's candidate appears to lie on an orbit far outside of his original prediction. This 'doesn't mean it's not there, but it means it's not Planet Nine,' said Brown, who is not affiliated with the project. 'I don't think this planet would have any of the effects on the Solar System that we think we're seeing.' Regardless, Phan remains optimistic about his results. 'I always believe that there are a lot of mysterious objects hiding in the dark regions of the solar system,' he said. 'Before trying to understand stars, galaxies or the Universe, we must come to understand our own home: the solar system.'
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'New' Tatooine-Like Exoplanet Appears to Orbit 2 Failed Stars
Scientists have found evidence of a Tatooine-like exoplanet that orbits two stars instead of one. Unlike the other 15 circumbinary planets to mimic the orbit of Star Wars' most famous planet, though, this one appears to circle failed stars. Astronomers not involved in the research consider it "some of the most direct evidence yet" of this unique type of system. The planet in question is 2M1510 (AB) b, and while it hasn't yet been observed directly, data strongly suggests that it exists. Its discovery follows that of two strange stars 120 light-years from Earth: a pair of brown dwarfs, otherwise known as failed stars. While one of the brown dwarfs had been on researchers' radar since 2018, it was only found last year to have been two failed stars, which were too light to ignite. The 45 million-year-old brown dwarfs orbit each other every 12 days, circling a small, proper star just 18 light-years away. But what orbits them? Using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, researchers in the United Kingdom and Portugal found that both brown dwarfs orbit in opposition to their own orbital motion. Thanks to new data analysis methods developed by astronomer Lalitha Sairam when she was at the University of Birmingham, the team knew their findings weren't a fluke: Sairam's methods had improved the precision of their observations by a factor of 30. That meant the odd pattern could only be explained by gravitational bumps from another object, which would need to orbit the failed stars at roughly a 90-degree angle. A visible light image of the two brown dwarfs locked in a binary system. Credit: DESI Legacy Survey/D. Lang (Perimeter Institute) "We had hints that planets on perpendicular orbits around binary stars could exist, but until now we lacked clear evidence of this type of polar planet," PhD student and lead study author Thomas Baycroft said. "We reviewed all possible scenarios, and the only consistent with the data is if a planet is on a polar orbit about this binary." Baycroft and his colleagues consider their discovery "serendipitous," as they'd been using the VLT to study the binary brown dwarf system in general, not to find a new planet. "It is a big surprise and shows what is possible in the fascinating universe we inhabit, where a planet can affect the orbits of its two stars, creating a delicate celestial dance," Baycroft said.
The Independent
17-04-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Scientists find Star Wars-like planet with a highly unusual orbit
Scientists may have found a new Tatooine-like planet orbiting two "failed stars" approximately 120 light years from Earth. The planet follows a peculiar, perpendicular path around a pair of brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs, sometimes referred to as failed stars, possess a mass greater than gas giant planets but less than stars. The two brown dwarfs at the centre of this system were initially observed years ago. Scientists noted that the pair eclipse each other from Earth's perspective, resulting in one dwarf being partially obscured. New analysis of the brown dwarfs' movement revealed a shift, a phenomenon less likely to occur if the dwarfs orbited each other in isolation. This research has been published in Science Advances. The discovery adds to a growing list of planets known to orbit binary star systems, reminiscent of the fictional desert planet Tatooine from Star Wars, famous for its double sunsets. While over a dozen such planets have been identified, this new finding offers a unique glimpse into the dynamics of planetary systems around brown dwarfs. The new planet's odd orbit sets it apart. But it has not been directly spied, and scientists say more research is needed to be sure it is out there and figure out its mass and orbit. 'I wouldn't bet my life that the planet exists yet,' said Simon Albrecht, an astrophysicist with Aarhus University who had no role in the new study. Probing these wacky celestial bodies can help us understand how conditions beyond our solar system may yield planets vastly different from our own, said study author Thomas Baycroft with the University of Birmingham. Planets circling twin stars "existed in sci-fi for decades before we knew that they could even really exist in reality', he said.
The Independent
16-04-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Scientists discover Tatooine-like planet that may experience double sunsets
Scientists may have found a new Tatooine-like planet orbiting two "failed stars" approximately 120 light years from Earth. The planet follows a peculiar, perpendicular path around a pair of brown dwarfs. Brown dwarfs, sometimes referred to as failed stars, possess a mass greater than gas giant planets but less than stars. The two brown dwarfs at the centre of this system were initially observed years ago. Scientists noted that the pair eclipse each other from Earth's perspective, resulting in one dwarf being partially obscured. New analysis of the brown dwarfs' movement revealed a shift, a phenomenon less likely to occur if the dwarfs orbited each other in isolation. This research has been published in Science Advances. The discovery adds to a growing list of planets known to orbit binary star systems, reminiscent of the fictional desert planet Tatooine from Star Wars, famous for its double sunsets. While over a dozen such planets have been identified, this new finding offers a unique glimpse into the dynamics of planetary systems around brown dwarfs. The new planet's odd orbit sets it apart. But it has not been directly spied, and scientists say more research is needed to be sure it is out there and figure out its mass and orbit. 'I wouldn't bet my life that the planet exists yet,' said Simon Albrecht, an astrophysicist with Aarhus University who had no role in the new study. Probing these wacky celestial bodies can help us understand how conditions beyond our solar system may yield planets vastly different from our own, said study author Thomas Baycroft with the University of Birmingham. Planets circling twin stars "existed in sci-fi for decades before we knew that they could even really exist in reality', he said.
