On Monday, February 21, 2000 12:05 AM Bruce Dykes bkd69@yahoo.com wrote:
> Please. That's most scientifically likely bit of the
> movie. A trinary system is, at least theoretically
> possible, but it wouldn't likely be stable enough to
> develop a planet capable of sustaining life, or
> capturing a rock tht might bear dormant, hibernating
> life.
>
> Given the right masses, a Lagrange like point of
> stability may exist between two of the stars, and one
> might well be a very large gas giant. What could be
> really interesting is the orbit our theoretical
> planetoid could take. It could full well wind up
> transiting *between* the three stars.
Actually, if my memory's correct from my physics courses, in order for there
to be a Langrange points, the masses of the bodies involved have to vary
such that the largest one is at least 25 times as massive as the other two.
(Someone else might do the math here to find out if this is the case.)
However, one need not worry about such things if the stars are separate far
enough. It's speculated with the nearby trinary (Alpha, Beta, and Proximi
Centauri) one could have a viable planetary system without the others
interfering if the planets are in close enough orbits. I don't recall the
reference to this, but it was in a reputable source. (I don't usually read
the junk sources anyway.:)
The more zaney orbits, such as some planet transiting between three stars
are unlikely given that unless a three body system reaches some sort of
stability, one body is often ejected. (Yeah, you might point out that the
solar system exists, but the Sun is larger than all the other bodies in it.)
Of course, there's always a chance something could come about like that. I
just think it highly unlikely. In fact, if I was a betting man, I'd give it
less than 1000 to 1 odds in happening in any trinary system with planets...
(This is pure guess on my part, so don't attach any significance to my
numbers, especially before I'm completely awake.:)
Cheers!
Daniel Ust
http://mars.superlink.net/neptune/
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