Astrophysicists find wide binary stars wreak havoc in planetary systems
Sunday, January 6, 2013 - 16:00
in Astronomy & Space
Astrophysicists have shown that planetary systems with very distant binary stars are particularly susceptible to violent disruptions, more so than if they had stellar companions with tighter orbits around them. Unlike the sun, many stars are members of binary star systems -- where two stars orbit one another -- and these stars' planetary systems can be altered by the gravity of their companion stars.