The findings help researchers understand how multiple star systems can influence the development and fate of planets. (astrobio.net)
Planets can form in multiple star systems, but the gravity of the additional stars can hurl planets into their parent star, says John Chambers of the Carnegie Institution for Science, based in Washington DC. (newscientist.com)
Confirming previous modelling of multiple star systems with relatively wide orbits such as the Alpha Centauri system, the RECONS astronomers found that Alpha Centauri A and B orbit in such a way that when the light and heat of the two stars was combined, neither star in the innermost AB system significantly changed the size of their respective habitable zones, regardless of where each was currently located in its orbit. (members.nova.org)