Those of us who grew up watching the adventures of Star Wars, Dragon Ball and so many stories related to science fiction, we have seen how they are presented different types of solar systems, very different from ours. The eight planets in our galactic neighborhood orbit the Sun, a massive star. But in these adventures, fanciful in many cases, there are worlds that surround two and even three stars.
Scientists dedicated to space exploration have found a huge number of solar systems like these, witnessing how reality surpasses fiction.
Tatooine, planet where it grows Anakin and Luke Skywalker, orbits two stars. Namek, in Dragon Ball Z, also surrounds two suns. In both cases they are planets from binary solar systems; very common in the Milky Way and other galaxies.
Binary solar systems (two stars) occupy 50% of the Milky Way, meaning they are as common as ours. But in this review we are going to talk about some that are less common, the trinarios, that is, those with three stars.
Trinaries gain ground
According to a review of The worldtrinary solar systems are gaining ground with the advancement of technology, in which Chile’s ALMA has become an important tool to discover them.
Extensive research carried out by scientists from the University of Leeds, the ALMA Observatory in Chile and the European Southern Observatory in Chile, has just raised the ante to three soles. They find an unexpected abundance of solar systems of this style in the universe.
“Over the last decade, astronomers have discovered that binarity is an incredibly important element in stellar evolution. But now we are getting closer to the idea that it is more complex than that, and that triple stars need to be considered. In fact, triples have become the new binaries,” said Professor René Oudmaijer from the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leeds, leader of research into this phenomenon.
Scientists’ estimates indicate that about 10% of all solar systems are made up of three stars.
Three-star solar systems form in the same way as single-star ones, from a cloud of gas and dust that collapses under its own gravity. However, in a three-star solar system, the cloud must be large enough for three stars to form.
There are several different types of three-star solar systems. One of the most common types is the hierarchical star system, in which two of the stars are very close together and the third is much farther away. In this type of system, the two nearby stars can form a binary system, while the third star orbits the pair.