When a typical planet orbits a typical star , it stays confined within a categoric oval like our own orbital path around the sunshine . Even in binary system with two stars , a major planet – like , say , Tatooine from Star Wars – likely traces the same kind of disk around one or both of its stars . But perhaps thing are n’t so normal after all : The planet could be spiraling around an invisible axis as it bounces between the two lead , New Scientist report .
Auburn University ’s Eugene Oksdeveloped a planetary model inspired by uncommon molecules love as one - negatron Rydberg quasimolecules . Under electromagnetism , the orbits of their negatron are corkscrew - mould , and Oks wondered if there might be major planet out there that play the same way .
To see Oks ’s model , visualize a corkscrew that ’s held horizontally , and not vertically as if you were about to uncork a bottleful of wine . First , you have to imagine a unbent stemma connecting two star , and then a satellite delineate a corkscrew around that line of descent . The planet travels from one star to the other and then back again along this strange orbit . ( I find it easier to suppose a slinky for this next part . ) As the planet move closer to one star , the spirals get skinny and nearer together as the planet impress more slowly , New Scientist explains , until the satellite turn and moves back toward the other star topology . In the heart , it draw wild , fast curves around the axis .
Oks count to the binary stars of theKepler-16 system(pictured above ) to provide illustrative numerical data . Kepler-16b was the first major planet get laid to orbit two stars ; the so - called circumbinary satellite was discovered by NASA ’s Kepler mission back in 2011 . Viewed from Earth , the duo of orb stars occasionally block each other : When the smaller one partly obstructs the tumid one , you get a primary occultation , and a second eclipse appears when the large one wholly blocks out the small one . When astronomers were keep the Kepler-16 system , they noticed that the luminosity sometimes dip even when the star were not eclipsing each other . That ’s when they key out a third body , the Saturn - sized earth of Kepler-16b .
uranologist do n’t know whether Kepler-16b follows the bottle screw orbit that Oks proposes ; he just wanted to show that such worlds are potential . If these suppositional planet with what are called static conic - helical arena do exist , they ’d be bizarre places . Only a small department of the planet would ever experience nighttime , and the season would come and go quickly .
" I ’m delighted at the likelihood that somewhere in our huge creation there sure as shooting must be some screwball planet like these in binary star systems,“says UC Berkeley ’s Geoff Marcy , who was n’t involve with the study . " What a discovery – wacky but undoubtedly true ! "
Thefindingswere write inThe Astrophysical Journallast week .
