Comments on: Is It Two Pair Or Four Of A Kind? https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/ Science, gaming, and all things in between. Wed, 01 Jul 2026 22:05:15 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=3.7.36 By: Hentzau https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/#comment-1078 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:52:10 +0000 http://scientificgamer.com/?p=2500#comment-1078 That’s probably the best way of thinking about it without having an aneurysm. In reality the barycentres are going to be constantly shifting as everything moves around in their orbits, but since this is apparently a stable configuration over solar system timescales (stable enough for a planet to form and survive, anyway) I would expect those shifts to be small and self-correcting.

]]> By: Smurf https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/#comment-1077 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 17:15:43 +0000 http://scientificgamer.com/?p=2500#comment-1077 See this: http://i47.tinypic.com/282uw.jpg is what I have pictured in my head and I don’t think it’s right. I didn’t really understand the image they had made in the linked paper.

]]> By: Hentzau https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/#comment-1076 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:04:18 +0000 http://scientificgamer.com/?p=2500#comment-1076 And an orbital period of three days, but if it has one it likely has more.

]]> By: Josh https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/#comment-1075 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:30:55 +0000 http://scientificgamer.com/?p=2500#comment-1075 Doesn’t the planet they found have a surface temperature of 1,500*C?

]]> By: Hentzau https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/#comment-1073 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:55:28 +0000 http://scientificgamer.com/?p=2500#comment-1073 The Brian Reynolds that joined Zynga is actually a pod person. It’s the only explanation.

(Been having some problems with spam and my spam filter being overzealous which should hopefully be fixed now.)

]]> By: Gap https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/#comment-1070 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 12:20:56 +0000 http://scientificgamer.com/?p=2500#comment-1070 Brian Reynolds is actually from the future. Actually, scratch that, he joined Zynga, he can’t be that smart. (Fun fact: Zynga’s stock now is worth less than their total assets)

]]> By: Hentzau https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/#comment-1069 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:59:39 +0000 http://scientificgamer.com/?p=2500#comment-1069 Wow, SMAC really was an actual literal roadmap to the future.

]]> By: Hentzau https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/#comment-1068 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:57:23 +0000 http://scientificgamer.com/?p=2500#comment-1068 Well, do you remember the post on barycentres? Planets don’t orbit a sun in the strictest sense, they orbit a common centre of gravity somewhere between the two. Usually this is only a short distance from the actual centre of gravity of the sun because stars are so sodding huge, but there is a difference and it does count.

So that second binary system will be orbiting a barycentre somewhere in between them and the primary binary, and the primary binary will be orbiting this too. This barycentre will still be very close to the primary pair because the secondary is so small, but because there are four bodies involved the dynamics of the system are far more complicated.

(Also, binary stars already orbit each other. You’ve already got suns orbiting suns. This is just a case of binaries orbiting binaries.)

]]> By: Gap https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/#comment-1066 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 09:59:51 +0000 http://scientificgamer.com/?p=2500#comment-1066 You gonna cover the Alpha Centauri B news? If only for the SMAC jokes.

]]> By: Smurf https://scientificgamer.com/two-pair-or-four-of-a-kind/#comment-1065 Thu, 18 Oct 2012 09:47:32 +0000 http://scientificgamer.com/?p=2500#comment-1065 Okay, just to clear things up in my mind, The secondary binary is orbiting the primary binary system? So we have suns orbiting suns?

]]>