This Bizarre Exoplanet Orbits Two Stars In A Way Never Seen Before

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Astronomers have discovered a strikingly unusual exoplanet: one which orbits its host stars in a totally new way. The planet 2M1510 (AB) b orbits two stars ⁘ like Luke Skywalker⁘s home planet of Tatooine, for the Star Wars fans ⁘ but it does so in a highly unusual way.

Astronomers had predicted that such an orbit was possible, but it had never been seen in reality before it was discovered using the European Southern Observatory⁘s Very Large Telescope (VLT). ⁘I am particularly excited to be involved in detecting credible evidence that this configuration exists,⁘ said lead researcher Thomas Baycroft of the University of Birmingham, UK.

The pair of stars that the planet is orbiting are a type called brown dwarfs . Sometimes known as failed stars, these objects are halfway between planets and stars as they are too big to be planets but not large enough to sustain fusion in their cores. That makes the planet even more unusual.

⁘A planet orbiting not just a binary, but a binary brown dwarf, as well as being on a polar orbit is rather incredible and exciting,⁘ said co-author Amaury Triaud of the University of Birmingham. ⁘The discovery was serendipitous, in the sense that our observations were not collected to seek such a planet, or orbital configuration. As such, it is a big surprise.⁘

⁘Overall, I think this shows to us astronomers, but also to the public at large, what is possible in the fascinating universe we inhabit,⁘ said Triaud.

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