All articles tagged with #binary stars
NASA’s TESS analyzed 1,590 eclipsing binaries and found 27 candidate exoplanets by timing the stars’ mutual eclipses, a method that can detect planets even when they don’t transit. The candidates range from ~12 Earth masses to ~10 Jupiter masses, with confirmation needing follow-up velocity measurements; the work expands planet searches in binary systems beyond the standard transit approach.
A new survey using data from NASA’s TESS telescope identified 27 strong circumbinary planet candidates orbiting binary star systems (out of 1,590 binaries), suggesting there could be thousands of such planets hiding in the galaxy. Planets are inferred from variations in the stars’ eclipse timings, and while the candidates range from Neptune-sized to up to Jupiter-sized, they require future observations to confirm their status.
Astronomers using apsidal precession timing of eclipsing binary stars and NASA’s TESS data identified 27 new candidate planets that would orbit two stars. Distances range from 650 to 18,000 light-years, adding to about 18 previously known circumbinary planets. Follow-up spectral analysis is needed to confirm whether these bodies are planets (likely Neptune-sized to ~10 Jupiter masses) or brown dwarfs/stars. The study was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
New simulations suggest planets may form more easily in the outer parts of circumbinary disks around binary stars, as inner zones near the stars are too chaotic. Beyond a “forbidden zone,” disks can become gravitationally unstable and fragment to form multiple planets—often gas giants—while some worlds may be ejected as rogue planets. The study implies binary-star systems could host many planets, making Tatooine-like worlds less rare, and points to ALMA, JWST, and future telescopes to observe such disks; over 50 circumbinary planets are already known.
Astronomers expected hundreds of planets orbiting binary stars, but only 14 have been found. New work in The Astrophysical Journal Letters suggests Einstein’s general relativity drives precession of the stars’ orbits that resonates with a planet’s orbit, destabilizing it. In tight binaries, this leads to a large instability zone and an “80% survival gap” in which planets are likely ejected or swallowed by the stars. As a result, there’s a desert of circumbinary planets for systems with orbital periods under about seven days, and most observed planets sit just outside the unstable region—likely formed farther out and migrated inward to the stability edge.
Using NASA’s TESS data from 2019–2024, astronomers identified TIC 120362137 as the most compact 3+1 quadruple star system: an eclipsing binary eclipsed by a third star, plus a distant fourth star with a 1,045.5‑day orbit—the shortest outer period observed in such a configuration. The inner three stars are packed within Mercury’s orbital distance while the outer companion sits near Jupiter’s orbit. The team’s models suggest the inner trio will merge into a white dwarf in ~300 million years, leaving a double white-dwarf system with a ~44‑day orbit.
Astronomers argue there may be hundreds to thousands of Tatooine‑like exoplanets in the Milky Way, but the observed scarcity of circumbinary worlds stems from a GR‑driven resonance in tight binary systems that destabilizes planetary orbits, combined with biases in Kepler/TESS detections that make these planets hard to find.
Astronomers detected GRB 250702B, a gamma-ray burst lasting about 25,000 seconds (roughly seven hours)—the longest on record—observed by multiple space-based telescopes since mid-2025; its sustained, evolving profile challenges standard GRB classifications and may point to a helium-star merger with a stellar-mass black hole, while no redshift or host galaxy has been identified yet. The finding highlights potential detection biases against long, lower-brightness bursts and has spurred plans to revise criteria for future missions like NASA/ESA’s COSI and to re-examine archival data for overlooked events.
A new study argues that the longest-lived long-period transient GPM J1839-10 is a white-dwarf–M-dwarf binary whose rotating magnetic field drives radio beams, potentially linking long-period transients to white-dwarf pulsars and explaining the puzzling, repeating radio pulses.
Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope observed a glowing bow shock around the white dwarf RXJ0528+2838 in a binary system, even though the star shows no accretion disc or obvious outflow. The shock, visible in red, green, and blue, appears to have been powered for about 1,000 years, challenging standard models of how matter moves in such systems. A strong magnetic field could be funneling material from the companion directly onto the dead star without forming a disc, but this mechanism, if real, would only partly explain the phenomenon, leaving the exact origin of the outflow a mystery as reported in Nature Astronomy.
Scientists have discovered a tiny companion to the red supergiant star Betelgeuse, nicknamed Betelbuddy, which challenges current understanding of binary star systems due to its extreme mass ratio, and the discovery was made using multiple space telescopes.
Astronomers from Carnegie Mellon University have confirmed that Betelgeuse has a hidden companion star, nicknamed 'Betelbuddy,' which is a young solar-sized star. This discovery, made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope, helps explain Betelgeuse's six-year brightness cycle and challenges existing models of binary star formation due to the significant mass difference between the two stars.
A recent study suggests that the behavior of wide binary stars at very low accelerations cannot be fully explained by traditional Newton-Einstein gravity, potentially supporting Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) as an alternative explanation, challenging current understanding of gravity and dark matter.
Astronomers have discovered one of the most massive binary star systems in our galaxy, NGC 3603-A1, with two stars weighing 93 and 70 times the Sun's mass, orbiting each other every 3.8 days. This discovery, aided by archival Hubble data and new observations, provides valuable insights into stellar evolution and the origins of binary black holes, highlighting the dynamic and extreme conditions in star-forming regions like NGC 3603.
Astronomers have discovered one of the most massive binary star systems in our galaxy, NGC 3603-A1, with stars weighing 93 and 70 times the Sun's mass, orbiting each other every 3.8 days, providing valuable insights into stellar evolution and the origins of binary black holes.