Corey S PowellApr 16

Possibly the weirdest planet yet discovered?

Newfound world 2M1510 (AB) b appears to orbit not one but two stars...and they are actually failed stars, known as brown dwarfs...and the planet orbits sideways, in a unique up-and-down polar orbit.

https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2508/ #space #science #astronomy #nature

"Big surprise": astronomers find planet in perpendicular orbit around pair of stars

Astronomers have found a planet that orbits at an angle of 90 degrees around a rare pair of peculiar stars. This is the first time we have strong evidence for one of these ‘polar planets’ orbiting a stellar pair. The surprise discovery was made using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).

www.eso.org
Show threadAndrew OrrApr 16
@coreyspowell Why is the orbit weird, because it’s not on the same plane? Edit: Thanks everyone, I appreciate the answers.
Show threadJohn Carlos BaezApr 17

@andrewornot - the planet's orbit is weird because it's shooting through the center of each star's orbit - the red ellipse is shooting through each blue ellipse.

[EDIT: no, it's probably not doing that.]

Show threadGuillaume RossoliniApr 17
@johncarlosbaez @andrewornot are stars orbiting these points then? Or what are they orbiting
Show threadJohn Carlos BaezApr 17
@GuillaumeRossolini @andrewornot - as @slowenough said, the two stars are orbiting each other. Thus, they're moving around their common center of gravity. It's right in the middle of this picture:
Show threadLeeloo

@johncarlosbaez @GuillaumeRossolini @andrewornot @slowenough
That makes sense, but I think the stars are shown too large?

For the center to be their combined center of gravity, they would have to pass in the middle at the same time, which at this scale looks like an almost collision. At least an exchange of matter.

Apr 17 at 8:20amWeb
Show threadGuillaume RossoliniApr 17

@leeloo @johncarlosbaez @andrewornot @slowenough this picture looks like an artist representation of the diagram in the original article (Fig. 5), not visually accurate?

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu0627#F5

Show threadLeelooApr 17

@GuillaumeRossolini @johncarlosbaez @andrewornot @slowenough
The diagram shows the planet the same size as the suns, so definitely not to scale.

But then again, they never are, because space is huge.