For the first time, scientists have found evidence of a rocky planetary system surrounding a double sun (like Luke Skywalker's homeworld from the Star Wars movie). Despite the fact that astronomers have already found a lot of such binary systems, it was possible for the first time to confirm the presence of a rocky planet in orbit in such a system.
The star system, which is about 1000 light-years from Earth and codenamed SDSS 1557, consists of a white dwarf and a brown dwarf – an object too small to be considered a full-fledged star, but too large to be a planet.
It revolves around the two bodies, what the researchers envisioned as 'rocky material', which could also be a group of asteroids that decay.
“The formation of rocky planets around two Suns is a problem, as the gravity of both stars can push and pull at the same time, preventing chunks of rock and dust from sticking together into full-fledged planets,” said Jay Farhi, co-author of the study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy. 'The discovery of debris from asteroids in the SDSS1557 system indicates signs of the existence of a rocky planet, which was formed as a result of the merger of two large asteroids. This can tell a lot about the formation of exoplanets in binary stellar systems. '
Until now, all the planets found in these types of systems have been gas giants such as Jupiter, so finding evidence of rocky material so close to a star is actually quite a challenge.
