Planets orbiting Binary Stars

[inertia]

Approximately half of all the stars that we visually see with our eyes are binary systems. We are now able to detect planets in these systems.

More details ---> Physics Today
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[The Pixie]

I have wondered what these planets might be like, I guess inspired by Tatooine and similar. If Jupiter was a bit gigger it would be a star (albeit a cool one), but would still be orbiting the Sun, so you would have a binary star system, but all the planets orbiting just one of them.

If they are sufficiently distant to each other, they could both have planetary systems. Would there be a danger of collision or exchange or figure of eight orbits? Sadly while we may be able to detect the planets, we will not be able to see sunsets on them until long after I am dead.

 

[inertia]

I have wondered what these planets might be like, I guess inspired by Tatooine and similar. If Jupiter was a bit gigger it would be a star (albeit a cool one), but would still be orbiting the Sun, so you would have a binary star system, but all the planets orbiting just one of them.

If they are sufficiently distant to each other, they could both have planetary systems. Would there be a danger of collision or exchange or figure of eight orbits? Sadly while we may be able to detect the planets, we will not be able to see sunsets on them until long after I am dead.

Some orbiting systems have multiple stars and the orbital mechanics must be exceedingly complex. From what I have read, the majority of these kinds of systems are sufficiently far apart that their gravitational impact on one another is negligible. In close binary systems however, where their separation is nearly equal to the diameter of the larger star, one or both of the stellar outer layers are gravitationally deformed* in a teardrop-like state. When one of the stars rotates through this tidal bulge - it pulsates.


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* Sidenote: Betelgeuse may have been a binary system long ago

 

[inertia]

Binary star system image discovered within the southern ring nebula - captured by the JWST ~ 2,500 light-years from Earth

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

• NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has revealed details of the Southern Ring planetary nebula that were previously hidden from astronomers. Planetary nebulae are the shells of gas and dust ejected from dying stars.
• Webb’s powerful infrared view brings this nebula’s second star into full view, along with exceptional structures created as the stars shape the gas and dust around them.
• New details like these, from the late stages of a star’s life, will help us better understand how stars evolve and transform their environments.
• These images also reveal a cache of distant galaxies in the background. Most of the multi-colored points of light seen here are galaxies – not stars.

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Reference: NASA and NASA