Could our Sun have been a companion star in the early days of the Solar System? A new study suggests that our sun may have a binary companion, such as the planet Tatuin’s system from the origin Star wars Movies.
A team of researchers from Harvard put forward the theory that another star may exist during the creation of the solar system in our space field. This would explain the presence of the Oort cloud, a collection of icy bodies orbiting the sun beyond Neptune. Scientists are not sure how this cloud formed, and the presence of other stars can help explain it.
“Previous models have had difficulty producing the expected ratio between scattered disk objects and external Oort cloud objects,” lead author Amir Siraj explained in a statement. “The binary capture model provides significant improvements and refinements, which is clearly evident in retrospect: most sun-like stars are born with a binary companion.”
Not only will the presence of another star help explain the Oort cloud, it can also give clues to the origin of life on Earth. Siraj said, “Objects in the outer Oort cloud may have played an important role in Earth’s history, such as possibly transporting water to Earth and causing the extinction of dinosaurs.” “It is important to understand their origins.”
This potential companion also has links to another mystery of our solar system: the possible presence of Planet Nine, a fictional planet believed to orbit some beyond Neptune.
“The author is not only about ort clouds, but also extreme trans-Neptunian objects like the potential planet Nine,” co-author Avi Loeb said in the statement. “It is unclear where they came from, and our new model predicts that there should be more objects with the same orbital orientation as Planet Nine.”
The research is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Editors recommendations
