Proxima may be an interloper from far away

• Autores: Leah Crane
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3144, 2017, pág. 11
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Proxima Centauri's orbit is currently bound to Alpha Centauri A and B, but it is unclear if it will remain stable, say Fabo Feng and Hugh Jones at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK. They modeled 100 Proxima clones in orbits around their binary partners. Over a simulated 10 billion years, Proxima Centauri became unbound from the pair due to an unstable orbit 25 per cent of the time. If it had been born in the system, it is unlikely the orbit would be unstable aeons later. So, Proxima may have been captured by the stellar pair.