Sun Has Binary Partner, May Affect The Earth

[emad]

Sun Has Binary Partner, May Affect The Earth

While the findings in Lost Star are controversial, astronomers now agree that most stars are likely part of a binary or multiple star system.

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 14, 2005

The ground-breaking and richly illustrated new book, Lost Star of Myth and Time, marries modern astronomical theory with ancient star lore to make a compelling case for the profound influence on our planet of a companion star to the sun.

Author and theorist, Walter Cruttenden, presents the evidence that this binary orbit relationship may be the cause of a vast cycle causing the Dark and Golden Ages common in the lore of ancient cultures.

Researching archaeological and astronomical data at the unique think tank, the Binary Research Institute, Cruttenden concludes that the movement of the solar system plays a more important role in life than people realize, and he challenges some preconceived notions:

The phenomenon known as the precession of the equinox, fabled as a marker of time by ancient peoples, is not due to a local wobbling of the Earth as modern theory portends, but to the solar system's gentle curve through space.

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/extrasolar-05zt.html

[leveymg]

1. I worry more about the Oort Cloud every 63 million years

[Canuckistanian]

2. Um, if the sun has a binary twin..

A twin which affects orbital paths and causes terrestrial precession... wouldn't we have noticed it before?

What's the closest star to our solar system - Alpha Centauri Proxima? At what distance, maybe 30 or 40 light-years? The effect would be miniscule.

[tocqueville]

6. 4 light years (proxima)

[Canuckistanian]

16. I stand corrected.

Still, doesn't change my question.

[rman]

20. If it's in a long eliptical orbit

then it will get close to earth only once in a very long time. The last time it had an effect on earth may be long forgotten.
It may be a brown dwarf or some other large non-luminous object, which would make it very hard to spot, but heavy enough to have an effect when it does come close (and surely with all the technology now it will be spotted once it does come close).

[bemildred]

3. So I have to ask?

Why don't we see the "companion star"?
Is it dinky and dark?
Wouldn't it radiate something?
Wouldn't it affect other planets too?

[emad]

5. Maybe the companion is a black hole.....

?

[bemildred]

7. Black holes radiate lots of energy, I believe.

And the gravitational effect would be the same.

[emad]

10. But would be the ultimate Earthlings' irony!

?

[rman]

21. Only if there enough matter for the BH to feed on.

Also the gravity of a black hole is no stronger then the object from which it was created (aside from any additional matter it has swollowed - if it has done so). Ie if our sun would turn into a black hole, this would have no effect on the orbit of the planets.

[bemildred]

23. True, but we are inside a galaxy, so there ought to be some stuff around.

The point of the comment about planets is that it ought to be
large enough to cause perturbations of all the planets and lots
of smaller objects when it comes close.

Velikovsky was right!

[rman]

25. depends on the mass of the BH

the BH in the center of our galaxy may be millions of solar mass.

but a stellar black hole may be just one solar mass.

the latter draws in matter from a much smaller region.

[emad]

4. So if it has a partner ('buddy' / 'spouse' / 'cosmic twin' etc) WHAT

should it's name be?

And don't anyone say Elvis!

[tocqueville]

8. question : is the Sun gay ?

[bemildred]

9. Well, it's charming, at least. nt

[emad]

11. Not if Dumbass & Co have their way. Strictly hetero world needs

strictly hetero energy sources.....

[laststeamtrain]

12. Tiny Earl (tinyurl) or htrae or...

thanks for the link.

[laststeamtrain]

13. Who will be the corporate sponsor?

[SteppingRazor]

14. Where is this binary partner?

This theory's so ridiculous on its face I don't know where to start. Binary partners typically are about 20-40 AUs from each other. Sirius, for example, is a very tight binary system at 19.8 AU.

So, where's the binary partner, and what is the center of mass?

If it were a black hole, the gravitational effects would be so extreme that they would be easily recognizable -- the shift in the sun's position relative to other stars would be measurable.

I mean... ah, what the hell. I don't even know what more to say, except that this is junk. It's a fun read, though. And it's interesting to think about what effect living in a binary system would have on Earth -- if the Sun were in a binary system. Which it isn't.

[longship]

15. This is rubbish.

There is no close solar binary companion. If there were we would already know about it. Alpha/Proxima Centauri system, a little over 4 light years away, is our closest stellar neighbor. If Sol was paired with those, we'd have already discovered this fact.

This guy's shooting LSD.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

17. Not necessarily

The companion could be a brown dwarf - a substellar mass (between 10 and 70 Jupiter masses) that radiates on the infrared wavelengths but doesn't have enough mass to start the fusion cycle and ignite into a star. We only really managed to confirm their existence ten years ago, so it's entirely possible that there may be one as part of the Sol system. Not likely, but possible.

[Orsino]

26. *sniff* *sniff*

Is that a hint of Velikovsky I smell?

Or perhaps just bad science writing. What the hell would "rising and falling ages" mean?

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Using Kepler's 3rd Law

(cube of the semi-major axis is proportional to the square of the period) the 24,000 year period would mean a distance of 832 AU - about 20 times Pluto, and less than 5 light-days away. So we can't be talking about anything that shines with its own light (caveat: do you need to take the combined masses of 2 objects into account for the period when they're comparable? Anyone?) Muller's 26 million years period would be over 500 light-days.

I thought the precession of the equinoxes was explained by tidal effects on the earth's equatorial bulge.

[bemildred]

19. "Combined masses"

I think the anwser is "yes". Newton's law, in any case, says
the acting force is proportional to the product of the masses.

[rman]

22. The orbit may be eliptical,

in which case the 832AU would only be an average.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. But if it were highly ellipitical

wouldn't the precession be at a highly varying rate? I think it's a steady movement.

Since I didn't think the precession fell into the category of "no-one has explained why this happens", I'm extremely doubtful of someone suddenly coming up with a new phenomenon to explain it - what happens to the old explanation?