University of Washington | 2018 Apr 12
Planets orbiting “short-period” binary stars, or stars locked in close orbital embrace, can be ejected off into space as a consequence of their host stars’ evolution, according to new research from the University of Washington.
The findings help explain why astronomers have detected few circumbinary planets — which orbit stars that in turn orbit each other — despite observing thousands of short-term binary stars, or ones with orbital periods of 10 days or less.
It also means that such binary star systems are a poor place to aim future ground- and space-based telescopes to look for habitable planets and life beyond Earth. ...
On The Lack of Circumbinary Planets Orbiting Isolated Binary Stars - David P. Fleming et al
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1804.03676 > 10 Apr 2018