Could it be possible for our sun to be part of a binary star system - the other star being dead and massive?

Question

I heard some astronomers on TV saying that there has to be something extremely dense nearby our solar system to explain pluto's strange orbit. . . they also said that binary star systems are MUCH more common than single ones; almost 98% (i think) of the stars we know about are binary

Answer 1

it is true, most of the visible star systems in our galaxy are binary (not 98%, more like 80% but that's still a lot). however, our sun is very unique in that it is just a single star system. We know this because the eccentricity (how much of a deviation from a perfect circle, with e=0 being a circle and 0
As you head to the outer planets, we see that the eccentricities increase substantially (but are still small, like e=.09 or something). This is obviously due to large bodies afflicting their gravitational pull. It was this theory that led to the discovery of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

Now we come to Pluto. Pluto's orbit is strange because a lot of energy came into play to put it in that orbit. The likelihood is due to the fact that Pluto was one of Neptune's moons or a rogue mass body from the early formation of the solar system.

The decision was reached to that because we know from endless observations that there is nothing close by that can produce enough of a gravitational pull to cause Pluto's orbit to be that offset. Even if it were dead, we would've still noticed it by now (if it were present) due to strong gravitational pulls from a single source. But none have been found.

The only reason why this belief is even more cemented now is due to the discovery of extrasolar planets within binary star systems that have insane eccentricities. This does not cement the theory, but adds a significant amount of evidence that our solar system is an anomaly in the vastness of space.

Answer 2

If the Sun had a massive companion, the Sun and our entire solar system would be in orbit around it, and we would be able to detect the motion.

If there is a companion, it must be a brown dwarf or very small red dwarf; anything larger should have been detected by now.

I have never heard the 98% figure quoted for multiple star systems. A more common estimate is that about half of all systems are binary or multiple. More recently, studies are showing large numbers of faint, single red dwarfs, so it is probably less than half. On the other hand, the multiple systems as a whole contain the majority of stars in the galaxy.

You may have misunderstood the comment about Pluto's orbit. There is nothing unexplained about it. However, it is possible that a passing massive star many years ago is responsible for the somewhat irregular orbits of Pluto and the recently discovered 2003 UB313 (aka Xena).

Answer 3

A small group of astronomers and other scientists have taken the idea that our sun has a distant companion seriously. These scientists contend that they have found that mass-extinctions occur here on Earth about every 30-million years and are almost certainly caused by either a comet or very large asteroid impact. From this data they assume that a companion star (called 'Nemesis') swings in towards our sun every 30-million years and its gravity disrupts the orbit of comets and asteroids so that many move towards the inner solar system. So far, no searches by these researchers has found any trace of such a star.

See this website for the whole story -->http://www.nineplanets.org/hypo.html#nemesis

Answer 4

Considering that situation would make life on our planet impossible, the answer would have to be no. A binary system would cause massive and rapid shifts of conditions on various planets in the system as the orbit changed regularly as the suns orbited eachother.

Answer 5

No. Pluto's strange orbit is completely explained by the discovery of the 10th planet in our solar system (and suspected 11th planet).

Answer 6

Um, no. The other star would totally wierd out our gravity. We'd probably also run into it. And yes, they are more common, but our sun isn't part of one. Jupiter is 1/3 of the way there, though,

Answer 7

first, pluto has no unexplained anomalies in it's orbit. there are hundreds of small icy bodies orbiting the sun farther away than neptune. a few of them are: pluto, quaoar, sedna, 2003EL61, and 2003 UB313 (the official name of xena). 2003 UB313 is about five percent bigger than pluto. it is called the kuiper belt. pluto was the first kuiper belt object discovered.

second, most stars are "red dwarf" stars, and most "red dwarf" stars are solitary so most stars are solitary.

Answer 8

i heard something about that, there is more than one sun, as long as we can continue science we can find out for sure