Theres now much more evidence that a bizarre star system perched on the constellation Orions nose might include the rarest type of planet in the known universe: a single world orbiting three suns simultaneously.The galaxy, known as GW Orionis (or GW Ori) and situated about 1,300 light-years from Earth, makes a tempting target for study; with 3 dusty, orange rings nested inside one another, the system literally appears like a giant bulls-eye in the sky. At the center of that bulls-eye live three stars– two secured a tight binary orbit with each other, and a 3rd swirling commonly around the other two.Triple-star systems are uncommon in the cosmos, but GW Ori gets back at weirder the closer astronomers look. In a 2020 paper released in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists took a close appearance at GW Ori with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile, and found that the systems 3 dust rings are in fact misaligned with one another, with the inner ring wobbling hugely in its orbit.The 3 dirty rings of GW Orionis, a triple star planetary system in the Orion constellation. The unsteady inner ring may contain a young planet. (Image credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), S. Kraus & & J. Bi; NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello)The team proposed that a young world, or the makings of one, could be throwing off the gravitational balance of GW Oris complex triple-ring arrangement. If the detection is validated, it would be the first triple-sun world (or “circumtriple” world) in the known universe. Consume your heart out, Tatooine!Now, a paper published Sept. 17 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society uses fresh evidence of that rare planets presence. The study authors performed 3D simulations to design how the strange spaces in the galaxys rings might have formed, based on observations of other dust rings (or “protoplanetary disks”) somewhere else in the universe.The group checked 2 hypotheses: Either the break in GW Oris rings formed from the torque used by the three twirling stars at the systems center, or the break appeared when a planet formed within among the rings.The scientists concluded that there is insufficient turbulence in the rings for the outstanding torque theory to work. Rather, the designs suggest that the presence of an enormous, Jupiter-size planet– or possibly numerous worlds– is the likelier description for the rings unusual shape and behavior.If future observations of the system support that theory, GW Ori might be “the very first proof of a circumtriple planet carving a space in genuine time,” lead study author Jeremy Smallwood, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told The New York Times.Sadly, a theoretical observer of this maybe-planet wouldnt really be able to see all three suns fall and increase in the sky; the two stars at the center of the system move in such a tight binary orbit that they would look like one great star, with the 3rd swooping around them, the scientists said.But, if confirmed, the mere presence of this world would show that planets can form under a larger range of conditions than researchers formerly recognized. Who knows what is.Originally published on Live Science if three suns and a wobbling mish-mash of dust rings arent enough to prevent a recently established planet.
