double star

Huge radio telescope array investigates the birth of planets around twin stars

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Astronomers have gained new insight into the formation of planets around twin stars that orbit each other. Despite the fact that we are most familiar with planets orbiting a single central star – such as the arrangement of our Solar System – more than 50% of the stars in the cosmos exist in a binary … Read more

A star that exploded like an atomic bomb still raises questions half a century later

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The aftermath of a thermonuclear explosion in a double star system about 3,400 light-years away has been observed by the Hubble Space Telescope. HM Sagittae, or simply HM Sge, is a so-called symbiotic system, in which a white dwarf feeds on a companion red giant star. The stolen material forms an accretion disk that swirls … Read more

Rogue planets may come from ‘twisted Tatooine’ binary star systems

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Star Wars fans will definitely get a kick out of binary star systems nicknamed “Tatooine” systems – a reference to the planet Luke Skywalker stands on to stare at the twin suns in Star Wars: A New Hope. It turns out that some planets in the real-life versions of these systems may have gotten a … Read more