Oddly enough, binary stars born from the same parental cloud of collapsing gas and dust aren’t always identical twins. It’s possible they even possess different kinds of orbiting planets. But, why would that be? Well, astronomers may finally have an answer.Despite our familiarity with a single-star system, thanks to the sun’s isolated lifestyle, an estimated 85% of stars exist with a stellar companion. These so-called binary stars are born from the same cloud of gas, meaning they presumably share the same chemical compounds — and meaning they should have almost identical chemical compositions and the same types of planetary systems.Yet, this isn’t always the case.And, using the Gemini South telescope located in Northern Chile, a team of scientists has discovered that differences in binary stars occur as a result of variations in chemical compounds of the vast molecular cloud that births them. This information helped the crew confirm, for the first time, that differences between stars can originate from before the stars even began to form.Related: Like the 90s, binary stars are back in style”By showing for the first time that primordial differences really are present and responsible for differences between twin stars, we show that star and planet formation could be more complex than initially thought,” Carlos Saffe, team leader and a researcher at the Institute of Astronomical, Earth and Space Sciences (ICATE-CONICET), said in a statement.”The universe loves diversity!”When do twin stars begin to differ?Prior to this study, scientists had posited three possible explanations for why stars born from the same cloud could vary. Two of these theories suggested that changes to the stars occurred long after formation.One idea suggests …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnOddly enough, binary stars born from the same parental cloud of collapsing gas and dust aren’t always identical twins. It’s possible they even possess different kinds of orbiting planets. But, why would that be? Well, astronomers may finally have an answer.Despite our familiarity with a single-star system, thanks to the sun’s isolated lifestyle, an estimated 85% of stars exist with a stellar companion. These so-called binary stars are born from the same cloud of gas, meaning they presumably share the same chemical compounds — and meaning they should have almost identical chemical compositions and the same types of planetary systems.Yet, this isn’t always the case.And, using the Gemini South telescope located in Northern Chile, a team of scientists has discovered that differences in binary stars occur as a result of variations in chemical compounds of the vast molecular cloud that births them. This information helped the crew confirm, for the first time, that differences between stars can originate from before the stars even began to form.Related: Like the 90s, binary stars are back in style”By showing for the first time that primordial differences really are present and responsible for differences between twin stars, we show that star and planet formation could be more complex than initially thought,” Carlos Saffe, team leader and a researcher at the Institute of Astronomical, Earth and Space Sciences (ICATE-CONICET), said in a statement.”The universe loves diversity!”When do twin stars begin to differ?Prior to this study, scientists had posited three possible explanations for why stars born from the same cloud could vary. Two of these theories suggested that changes to the stars occurred long after formation.One idea suggests …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
