Worlds with two suns

Can planets orbit around two suns? That was the question that the astronomy profesor William F. Welsh and the astrophysicist Laurence R. Doyle, asked themselves. Although some people thought that it may be possible, a lot of scientist disagree because of the lack of gravitational stability, they argued that such instability could even crash the planet to the star or send the planet into the deep and cold universe. Instead of giving up Doyle and Welsh keep looking and researching about this theory and after two decades they found the first transiting circumbinary planet and after that they found 6 more.


After finding the two suns planets they realize that there were two types of systems, the S-type in which the stars are two far of each other that they barely affect the planet orbit. And the P- type where the two stars are too close and the planet has to orbit both of them, in this type the distance among the planet and the stars is crucial, not too close but neither too far.

The most amazing thing was that this planets temperature are perfectly able for water to persist in the liquid state, meaning that there are habitable zones in the planets. But as the planets are moving and such as the stars there are zones where it is colder and zones where its hotter, because the stars orbits faster than the planet, this zones moves around faster than the planet orbits. Two of the seven planets have a high percentage in habitable zones although this does not guaranteed conditions suitable for life.

It caught my attention that we are very used to think in one way and do not let our minds open and think out of the box (like the scientist that does not believe in this worlds), but although everybody says there is no way something can happen or can be done there are always people that do not settle and believe everything others said, that even though there are tons of obstacles they still look for more, for an answer. They follow their beliefs and their hunches and make a difference in the world.


Scientific america, worlds with two suns, William F. Welsh, Laurence R. Doyle  2013.

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