Pulverized Planet Dust Discovered Around Double Star Systems
Posted on August 25, 2010
A new study, using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, suggests that tight double-star systems might not be the best places for life to spring up. The infrared observatory spotted a surprisingly large amount of dust around three mature, close-orbiting star pairs. Astronomers suspect this dust might be the aftermath of tremendous planetary collisions.
"This is real-life science fiction," said Jeremy Drake of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. "Our data tell us that planets in these systems might not be so lucky -- collisions could be common. It's theoretically possible that habitable planets could exist around these types of stars, so if there happened to be any life there, it could be doomed."
Stars gravitational influences change when they get closer to each other. This could cause disturbances to planetary bodies orbiting around both stars. Comets and any planets that might exist in the systems could jostle about and bang into each other, sometimes in powerful collisions.
"These kinds of systems paint a picture of the late stages in the lives of planetary systems," said Marc Kuchner, a co-author from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "And it's a future that's messy and violent."