Astronomers discover largest solar system
1–10 of 17 posts
Re: Astronomers discover largest solar system
#2Another system is no longer "solar", just planetary, as it evolves around another star, not the Sun. Or am I making this up?
Re: Astronomers discover largest solar system
#3Another system is no longer "solar", just planetary, as it evolves around another star, not the Sun. Or am I making this up?
You are correct.
Re: Astronomers discover largest solar system
#4Another system is no longer "solar", just planetary, as it evolves around another star, not the Sun. Or am I making this up?
I don't think most people understand that our star is called Sol.
Re: Astronomers discover largest solar system
#5> The planet, known as 2MASS J2126-8140, is between 12 and 15 times the mass of Jupiter.
Wouldn't object on the higher end of this range be regarded as a brown dwarf, making this system a binary star rather than a planet system?
Re: Astronomers discover largest solar system
#6Another system is no longer "solar", just planetary, as it evolves around another star, not the Sun. Or am I making this up?
It'd be nice to call it a stellar system for consistency, but that already means a group of interacting stars. Planetary system or exoplanetary system seems to be the right term to use.
Re: Astronomers discover largest solar system
#7> The planet, known as 2MASS J2126-8140, is between 12 and 15 times the mass of Jupiter. Wouldn't object on the higher end of this range be regarded as a brown dwarf, making this system a binary star rather than a planet system?
The distinction is not a bright-line, and is not settled consensus:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_dwarf
Re: Astronomers discover largest solar system
#8Another system is no longer "solar", just planetary, as it evolves around another star, not the Sun. Or am I making this up?
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solar%20system
Full Definition of solar system : the sun together with the group of celestial bodies that are held by its attraction and revolve around it; also : a similar system centered on another star
Re: Astronomers discover largest solar system
#9> The planet, known as 2MASS J2126-8140, is between 12 and 15 times the mass of Jupiter. Wouldn't object on the higher end of this range be regarded as a brown dwarf, making this system a binary star rather than a planet system?
The distinction is not a bright-line, and is not settled consensus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_dwarf
It seems the more we learn about the object out there, the more varied they appear, and the clearer it becomes that our naming conventions are completely arbitrary.
Re: Astronomers discover largest solar system
#10> The planet, known as 2MASS J2126-8140, is between 12 and 15 times the mass of Jupiter. Wouldn't object on the higher end of this range be regarded as a brown dwarf, making this system a binary star rather than a planet system?
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects[1]
Perhaps if it doesn't make it as a star, then it's not binary? It's not quite a planet system, but maybe one can call it a "Solar system"?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_dwarf
This might be interesting. In the same article, they call a pair of brown dwarves a "a binary system" rather than a binary star.