Corkscrew planets spiral between two stars

Shayne Jacopian for redOrbit.com – @ShayneJacopian

In rare cases, a planet can simultaneously orbit two stars in a fixed orbit—like Tatooine—but in even rarer cases, a planet can spiral around the axis connecting its two stars, according to an article published in New Scientist.

Astronomers usually assume that a planet orbiting two stars will stay confined to a single plane of motion. However, Eugene Oks, a theoretical physicist at Auburn University in Alabama, wondered what could possibly happen without that assumption.

Oks, whose area of expertise is molecular physics, was inspired by the behavior of rare, one-electron Rydberg quasimolecules. The corkscrew orbit of these molecules’ electrons is the same as what he suggests can also occur on a much larger, planetary scale.

He created a model showing that, imagining a line between two stars, a planet could corkscrew around that axis, going back and forth between the two stars. As a planet approaches one star, it takes broader spins, with each spin becoming slower and closer together. As it makes its way back towards the middle of this axis, it moves much more quickly and haphazardly.

Never say never for exoplanets

Life wouldn’t be possible on one of these planets, of course. If the planet was tilted on its own axis, then the seasons would change with every spiral around the axis between the two stars—if you live in the midwestern United States, think early spring, only all the time and with slightly more extreme temperature fluctuations.

While a planetary system like this has not been observed, some exoplanet experts agree that, under the right circumstances, such a planetary orbit could certainly exist.

“I’m delighted at the likelihood that somewhere in our vast universe, there surely must be some screwball planets like these in binary star systems,” says Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley. “What a discovery – wacky but undoubtedly true!”

Some are more skeptical, saying that while it’s mathematically possible, it’s unlikely for such an orbit to ever actually form. “It’s hard to imagine planets forming or being captured in such an orbit,” says Sara Seager, an MIT astrophysicist.

“But for exoplanets,” she says, “never say never!”

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