Comments on: Shells of dust surrounding massive binary star

By: Blair Ivey

Blair Ivey — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 07:15:37 +0000

“Our confidence in this interpretation of the image was strengthened by comparing our findings to the geometric dust models by Yinuo Han, a doctoral student at the University of Cambridge, which showed a near-perfect match to our observations.”

It appears the observation is more a validation of soon-to-be Dr Han’s theories and modeling.

By: sippin_bourbon

sippin_bourbon — Thu, 13 Oct 2022 22:53:48 +0000

I get it. It could be that the gravity prevents planetoid formation.
Or tore existing ones apart.

Even late stage stars can have planets. They have confirmed one around a white dwarf.

I also wonder if the varying proximity of the stars results in on again/off again siphoning of stellar mass.

By: pzatchok

pzatchok — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 19:40:18 +0000

The non circular rings individually look like the patterns created by those Spirograph toys.

This might indicate an extreme orbit causing the odd shape.

By: Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 19:22:06 +0000

In reply to sippin_bourbon. sippin_bourbon: I should make it clear that a Wolf-Rayet star is not one that is favorable to life. It is a massive star in the late stages of a relatively very short life, producing frequent eruptions (usually triggered by the close approach of an orbiting star). Hence, the dust shells. The dust and carbon material this star is spewing will enter interstellar space, become part of a large molecular cloud that someday might coalesce into a less massive star, like our Sun. It is in that process that the carbon could become the seed for new biological life.

By: sippin_bourbon

sippin_bourbon — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 18:27:58 +0000

I wonder if all that carbon is truly releasing from the stars as dust. That is a lot of carbon.
In stars large enough to create a carbon layer(via fusion), that carbon is 2 or three layers down, below the H and He. Convection can cause some of it to churn up and be released.
I would think it more likely that most of the dust was collected or left over from initial formation.

Still it does bring questions to mind. Does the nature of the binary system, and the interactions of the gravity of the two, prevent consolidation of the dust into objects such as asteroids and planets?

Binary stars are incredibly common. The answer the above question has an impact on the estimate for potential life elsewhere.