•A new study, which demonstrates that a world-sized planet can exist in stable orbits around two suns, was conducted in the 70 Ophiuchi (70 Oph AB) binary star system, located 16 light-years away. The study also found that there are no Jupiter-mass giant planets in this system. Stephen Kane, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), said, “You might think that the second star would come in like a wrecking ball and make it impossible for a world-sized planet to exist in the habitable zone. But these simulations show that this is not necessarily the case.”
The second successful method for finding planets, the RV method, is responsible for the discovery of more than 1,200 exoplanets. This method measures tiny changes in the speed of a star caused by the gravitational pull of another celestial body—whether it’s a planet, a stellar companion, or something else. As the star approaches Earth, it shifts slightly toward the blue end of the spectrum, then toward the red as it moves away. Researchers have achieved a sensitivity of less than a meter for this measurement. It’s as straightforward as walking past someone who is walking slowly and then speeding up, but it’s a testament to the power of science to be able to measure this change in the speed of an entire star—an enormous nuclear furnace trillions of light-years away.
The researchers also ruled out the presence of giant exoplanets larger than Jupiter, a gas giant equivalent to the distance of five astronomical units (AU) from the primary star—five times the distance of Jupiter in our own solar system. This is interesting because in 1855, British astronomer William Jacob claimed that 70 Oph AB had a planet, making it the first candidate host for an exoplanet; the University of Michigan (U-M) researchers note. Jacob’s claim did not stand up to scrutiny, but later measurements revealed a “wobble” that could be explained by a Jupiter-sized planet.
“In general, our results show that planets in S-type orbits around the primary star of 70 Oph—including those in the habitable zone—could sustain rocky planets. If star binary systems can host solar-like planets, 70 Oph is one of the best places to look.” The research was published in a journal.
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