Inspired by the recent Kepler discoveries of circumbinary planets orbiting nine close binary stars, we explore the fate of the former as the latter evolve off the main sequence. We […]
Tatooine
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release
On the Fate of Unstable Circumbinary Planets: Tatooine's Close Encounters with a Death Star
Circumbinary planets whose orbits become unstable may be ejected, accreted, or even captured by one of the stars. We quantify the relative rates of these channels, for a binary of […]
Posted inExoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Earth-like Tatooines From Star Wars May Be Common
Luke Skywalker’s home in “Star Wars” is the desert planet Tatooine, with twin sunsets because it orbits two stars. So far, only uninhabitable gas-giant planets have been identified circling such […]