The idea that planets orbit two suns has long fascinated both scientific curiosity and the human imagination. Popularized by science fiction, such worlds, known as orbiting planets, do exist, and astronomers have identified several planets outside our solar system. But a puzzling pattern has emerged. Many of these planets appear to have disappeared from observation. … Read more
Planets orbiting two stars were expected to be everywhere. Instead, astronomers have discovered only a few, according to a new study. Einstein’s general theory of relativity We may be quietly wiping out many of them. For years, this gap has puzzled scientists. The numbers simply didn’t add up, as binary stars are common in galaxies … Read more
Among the more than 4,500 known planetary host stars, one surprising pattern stands out. Planets are expected to form around most stars, and many stars exist in pairs, but worlds orbiting both stars are extremely rare. Of the more than 6,000 exoplanets, or exoplanets, discovered to date (mostly by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope and the … Read more