Our sun possibly has a binary companion?

[sao123]

I was reading this article on space.com. It seems pretty interesting, but not very likely. What are your thoughts?

 

[Jeff7]

Interesting theory; I didn't know that the intervals between mass extinctions were so regular.
It just seems kind of funny too - they say this star could only be 1-3 light years away. So "close" and we can't see it. Of course, if it's a brown dwarf, there really wouldn't be that much to see anyway.

 

[CycloWizard]

Durned evil comet-chucking stars! Interesting theory. The problem is (I'm asking here) that since the period of each star's orbit with each other star is extremely long so we can't tell which star it would be? The solution would be to study the orbits of each of the possible stars? I'm sure he'll get funding for it before too long - it would be a revolutionary discovery.

 

[YNos]

i believe we touched on this in college astronomy. this was the reasoning that many planets have an eliptical path, a yet unknown star.
interesting

 

[cquark]

Originally posted by: sao123
I was reading this article on space.com. It seems pretty interesting, but not very likely. What are your thoughts?

It's possible, but unlikely, especially as the intervals aren't that regular, varying by some millions of years. Proponents say that could be the result of other stars disturbing the orbit of Nemesis. Muller has a Nemesis page at http://muller.lbl.gov/pages/lbl-nem.htm

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: YNos
i believe we touched on this in college astronomy. this was the reasoning that many planets have an eliptical path, a yet unknown star.
interesting

That's odd that they would teach that in astronomy... Sounds like the prof didn't know what he was talking about. That's almost like saying "we don't understand why orbits are elliptical - they just happen to be that way." Which is, of course, an incorrect statement. Mathematics and physics explain it very well.

 

[Peter]

Most of the more recently discovered objects in Sun's orbit have been predicted by astronomers and mathematicians, in search of explanations to unexpected deviations in known objects' paths. You can calculate where, when and how big the predicted object has to be, and THEN you start looking for it through telescopes.

Today's mathematical model of the planets and their moons circling each other and the sun is precise enough to tell us there is no 2nd sun.

Currently we're looking for explanations to observed deviations in the flight path of the two Voyager probes as they leave our solar system. Point your telescope there 😉

 

[GreenMonkey]

That's an interesting theory, and I hadn't heard of it before. Thanks for the post.