Pulverised Planet Dust May Lie Around Double Stars
Tight double-star systems might not be the best places for life to spring up, according to a new study using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The infrared observatory spotted a surprisingly large amount of dust around three mature, close-orbiting star pairs. Where did the dust come from? Astronomers say it might be the aftermath of tremendous planetary collisions. Read more
Pulverised Planet Dust May Lie Around Double Stars
Tight double-star systems might not be the best places for life to spring up, according to a new study using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The infrared observatory spotted a surprisingly large amount of dust around three mature, close-orbiting star pairs. Where did the dust come from? Astronomers say it might be the aftermath of tremendous planetary collisions. The particular class of binary, or double, stars in the study are about as snug as stars get. Named RS Canum Venaticorums, or RS CVns for short, they are separated by only about 3.2-million kilometres, or two percent of the distance between Earth and our sun. The stellar pairs orbit around each other every few days, with one face on each star perpetually locked and pointed toward the other. Read more
RS Canum Venaticorum (HD 114519) is the prototype for a variable binary class of stars. RS Canum Venaticorum comprises of a pair of similar sized yellow and orange (F5 V+K2 IV) stars that orbit each other every 4.8 days. The two stars are so close, that both stars are tidally locked together. The tidal locking also causes strong magnetic storms and chromospheric activity to occur on both star surfaces.
Position(2000): RA 13 10 36.9083, Dec. +35° 56 05.591
RS Canum Venaticorum variables are a type of variable star. They are close binary stars having active chromospheres which result in variations in their observed luminosity. The period of variations is, in general, close to the rotational period of the binary system. Some systems exhibit variations in luminosity due to them being eclipsing binaries. Typical brightness fluctuation is 0.2 magnitudes. Source