How Many Suns Can One Planet Have?

[@SciShow]

Visit brilliant.org/scishow/ to get started learning STEM for free. The first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription and a 30-day free trial.

[@alto7183]

Buen video, que bueno que son estructuras naturales y no artificiales como estrellas alineadas de startreck picard como un monumento de especies inteligentes avanzadas y civilizaciónes tipo 4 en adelante, sin mencionar que podrían mostrar si se descubre que no son naturales sino artificiales qué significa que no estamos solos en el universo, como encontrar galaxias de creación y formas no naturales lo que significa que una civilización muy avanzada crea planetas, lunas, sistemas solares y hasta galaxias desde cero mostrando su poder o dejando mensajes.

[@woutvanostaden1299]

@SciShow How many light years away is alfa centauri? And if hypothetically anti-matter can achieve 80% of the speed of light, how many years would it take at that speed to reach it.

[@FLPhotoCatcher]

The JWST is not the "Webb Telescope" 🤦‍♂

[@mantrekki]

I’m 1941, Isaac Asimov published his story “Nightfall”. A story about a civilization in a planet named “Lagash” in a six star system that never had a night except for a few hours every 2,000 years. Maybe he was a genius, but this video reminded me of that story. You should check it out.

[@PaulPechin]

An amazing story. Sounds like the producers read Nightfall and wanted to explore it.

[@1One2Three5Eight13]

I came here looking for this reference, I appreciate that it's here.

[@gabrieldemourae]

Man, you are REALLY old, omg!

[@mantrekki]

@@gabrieldemourae, someone said: “those who don’t remember their history are condemned to repeat it”. Hahahahaha…

[@kendebusk2540]

@@mantrekki Those who forget the pasta are condemned to reheat it. -- First corollary of Santayana's famous quote ;)

[@samwill7259]

So what you're saying is that binary+ star systems aren't represented ENOUGH in sci fi even though they ALREADY feel like an overused visual trope?

[@xXKyledkXx]

You’d have to include how many or how likely planets as part of these systems could be habitable

[@AnimeSunglasses]

Quite possibly yes, although we won't know for a while wether INHABITABLE planets around binary star systems are common...

[@Rathkryn]

@@xXKyledkXx The great thing about fictional species with interstellar technology is that they also get terraforming technology. 👍

[@patrickmccurry1563]

It would make for a good background for why a species developed space flight early or quickly. They didn't have to travel many light years to their neighboring system.

[@nuke___8876]

Not exactly. As is casually mentioned a couple of times in the video -- these systems are often unstable and planets/planetoids can't settle into an orbit so they either crash into one of their suns, get permanently ejected, or have an unstable chaotic orbit that's usually very eccentric/long.

[@cyrilio]

So happy that you’ve kept making SciShow Space videos. Perhaps my favorite topic you guys cover.

[@ajchapeliere]

Also love that they were able to keep the hosts!

[@remygallardo7364]

Makes me appreciate the setting of the movie Pitch Black all the more, even if the physics and representative size of the suns is a little off for effect. I always loved the lighting in that movie.

[@dylanbarton5797]

I have watched SciShow for a while now...but this is the first one I painstakingly paused several times to see the end credits. Shoutout to Host and Director Savannah Geary and writer Emma Dauster for such an engaging, entertaining, and educational episode! You made learning about these types of solar systems unexpectedly joyful. Would love to see more of your work!

[@BillMeade38]

I love your enthusiasm in teaching others. I wish I had teachers/someone like you in elementary school, highschool, school systems lack this level of involvement and it's all lost . It's why higher pay for teachers/ educators is so mandatory

[@maolcogi]

I could imagine a system that looks like ours but the central star is a supermassive star and the rest are sun-like, all the stars spaced out like our planets but much further since they're all stars. Then I could imagine planetary systems around each of them, like how Jupiter has its own miniature planetary system. Each system hosting intelligent life with distinct species and cultures. Could be a really cool scifi series.

[@iliketurtles50000]

Basically just a galaxy 🗿

[@justinbremer2281]

@@iliketurtles50000 But a really, really small & thin one, possibly itself even contained within a more typically massive galaxy!! 🤯

[@FLPhotoCatcher]

Sounds plausible.

[@maolcogi]

@@iliketurtles50000 now I'm thinking of a artificially created hyper massive star with trillions of solar masses at the center of an enormous star system with thousands of planets. The gigantic star kept from dying by an artificial black hole in the center to reduce the speed of fusion and artificial black holes around the outside to keep it from imploding. Thanks for the fun idea! 😃

[@johanguri1833]

This was my first thought as well. The russian doll star system. A configuration of this system similar to an eclipse on earth would mean daylight on both sides of a planet. Pretty cool... or hot

[@GnomaPhobic]

If a Citizen Scientist discovers an Exoplanet, they should get to propose a name for it.

[@DLuniz]

Only if you force them to explain why they went with Planty McPlanet Face every year for the rest of their life.

[@General12th]

Planet McPlanetface.

[@jessejallday]

​@@DLuniz I would rather see Planet McPlanetface 1 - 1000 than the seemingly random strings of characters that are used now.

[@penteractgaming]

4chan approves

[@Flesh_Wizard]

Ligma. I'm calling it Ligma

[@Aetoyt]

I was literally just having a conversation with a friend today about the Castor system with 3 binary pairings. Great timing!

[@antonsimmons8519]

Definitely one of the most fascinating videos in quite a while. This one is essential astronomy edutainment.

[@KeithWilliams73]

I'm currently reading the Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu before the Netflix series starts next year. That is an awsome sci-fi story "revolving" around a species who evolved around a trinary star system.

[@rl3730]

That book is amazing, one of the best science fiction books ever written.

[@iffy_too4289]

Thats Alpha Centaurai

[@arturofernandez4058]

The video itself talks about the same system. Not just the same type but the system itself. The Alpha Centauri system IS Trisolaris. It's the closest system to Earth, 4 ly away and is a trinary star system. The only difference is that the Alpha Centauri system isn't actually chaotic, all it's orbits are stable as far as we know.

[@youtubehandlesux]

Ew, the worst scifi book ever written

[@user-rm2qj2jh4l]

This was so interesting! Thanks, Scishow and Savannah!

[@Malathyre77]

My favorite SciShow video this year! I’m not sure if it was predicted that we would find planets in multi-star systems. Planets, uh, find a way.

[@DontRobMe13]

Planets can orbit in such a system but keep in mind that these system lead to unstable orbits because anything that orbits such a center of gravity is gonna be pushed and pulled inconstantly. So it is only a matter of time that these planets will either collide with one sun or will be kicked out of the system.

[@steveowens398]

Very informative video, and a truly great narrator. Thanks!

[@MBMCincy63]

I think the one shot/ picture resembles terrazzo granite or stone. Wildly amazing that there's that many varieties of systems out there.

[@daz746]

Love your presentations👍

[@circa1890]

Love Remembrance of Earth's Past - starting with The Three Body Problem. It's so interesting to be able to imagine what it might be like living (or dying) on that world. There are some great physics websites to go over the math behind a three body system.

[@minteyleafy]

which websites?

[@AveragePearEnjoyer]

ETO sympathizer?

[@GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

Three Body is definitely my favourite sci-fi book series, the twists and turns in the story is just like the chaotic orbits of a three body system.

[@Deadlyish]

Trisolarans would lose their mind at the existence of a 7 star system

[@ericvanvlandren8987]

Your diction and enunciation is excellent!

[@criskity]

Except for saying "ee-chuther" instead of "each other". (Sorry, love her, but this is a pet peeve of mine)

[@DenizenoftheAges]

Oh, melodious KIC 4862625. How we sing of thee.

[@Ostlord]

First acknowledgement of the scishow camera man!! You go guurl! 🤘🤘

[@DomyTheMad420]

from what i recall reading: "Stable? 2. max 3 , merhaps 4 or 5 but that's extremely unlikely to be 'stable'. "

[@thirdwheel1985au]

This tracks with what I've experienced while playing Elite Dangerous - nothing like the experience of dropping into a system, running your discovery scanner, get a result of five bodies, followed by "system scan complete" to really baffle a first time explorer.

[@rkozakand]

It is very hard to believe that the conditions on any planet in these multi star systems would be stable enough to support life.

[@sasquatch2]

Life uh finds a way

[@DoubsGaming]

​@@sasquatch2Wish it would find its way faster and not in an infinite amount of time. We don't have all century here. lol

[@FrozEnbyWolf150]

I would add the caveat, that only applies to life as we know it on Earth. Life evolves and adapts to fit the environment, not the other way around, so life could develop that is better suited to conditions on those planets. Humans would die if dropped on those planets, but organisms from those planets would also die if dropped on Earth.

[@JasonB808]

We have life on earth that survives without receiving any sunlight. What happens in the sky means nothing to those life forms.

[@Flesh_Wizard]

​@@FrozEnbyWolf150I'm thinking silicon based life, or carbon based life inside a distantly orbiting gas giant's icy moon

[@starrywizdom]

Can't help thinking of the planet Lagash, from Isaac Asimov's 1941 novella "Nightfall", with its six sun system.

[@General12th]

Hi Savannah! What a stellar transition. The writers are truly out of this world.

[@MaekarManastorm]

Dumb -10

[@ArtistryBranson]

Great video, SciShow!

[@BigRig06190]

Wouldn't you think it's possible that you could have a system similar to ours just much larger? For example a very large center star. With other stars orbiting around it. And planets orbiting those stars like moons? Even if the system is binary or so on.

[@janmelantu7490]

The distances would have to be scaled up, as the increased mass increases gravitational spheres of influence. If SOIs overlap, orbits get unstable.

[@kolbyking2315]

Star lifespan decreases as mass increases. t = 10 billion × M^-2.5. Any star bigger than 1.4 solar masses would be dead by the earth's current age.

[@robertsteffler5155]

This is technically possible, but not only would the larger star live a far shorter life (as has been mentioned), but we don't know of any mechanisms for star or planetary formation that would be able to generate a system like that, especially one that was gravitationally stable in the long-term. Basically, considering that the vast majority of star formation is done by the collapse of a gas cloud, it would be tremendously difficult to get a "nested" system like that to form. The only barely-plausible way for a system like that to form would be from the larger star capturing the smaller stars as they passed by, and the odds of that happening even once would be, pun intended, astronomical.

[@cloudpoint0]

A galaxy almost fits what you describe.

[@Erik-pu4mj]

Always happy to hear Savannah's voice--they're both engaging and relaxing.

[@kalinystazvoruna8702]

You must've been reading my mind because I've been thinking about this over the last few weeks and was planning on talking with some of the astronomers at my local university. Thanks!

[@jesseluna4406]

It's astonishing to think that there are solar systems out there with not one or two, but possibly five or more stars. At first, this might seem mind boggling, but upon reflection, it's like a scaled-up version of what we're familiar with on our own planet. Think of the way planets have their own moons and satellites, and suddenly, multiple suns don't seem so outlandish after all. I'm just a curious observer, not an expert in the field and would be interested to know if it some how plays differently.

[@alexstreet123]

I love that we are going to hear new discoveries and updates from the james webb telescope for the rest of our lives.

[@Tomixx1199]

its wild that I was googling this out of curiosity a few days ago and now I get a video about it too

[@bluesnake198]

I want to know more about the distance it takes for a stellar binary to be treated like a single gravitational entity by the orbiting bodies it hosts. Is there some kind of equation we can use to figure this out for a given system?

[@bbbenj]

That subject is really interesting, thanks 👍

[@lisadooley3872]

It’s so cool that we’ve found a system of three stars that have planets around them, it’s a real life Thra!! I have to wonder if this is the planet that Gelflings live on!!!

[@barrydysert2974]

i actually liked this so much that i hit the like icon AND let the entire ad read play! Well done Hank and Co !:-) 🙏

[@CobMagnificent]

The Octinary system from Picard 🤯

[@evasartorius9528]

This reminds of the book Fire Time by Paol Anderson. There was a very convincing introduction that ended with the sentence. 'It would be nice if the planet had a more reasonable energy profile, but the universe has never shown much interest in being reasonable.' I laughed til I cried.

[@fallinginthed33p]

That sounds like something Douglas Adams would write.

[@theninja4137]

One thing that might be worth adding is that eath is technically not orbiting around the sun, but around the gravitational centre of sun and Jupiter (which is slightly outside the sun)

[@JoeyPsych]

Meanwhile intelligent life on a planet in a trinairy system is looking at our solar system thinking it would be incredibly impossible for life to exist on a planet in a system with so little star energy.

[@brianedwards7142]

One star is all this solar system is worth. The service is APPALING darlings.

[@DenizenoftheAges]

Yo our Sol System is INSANE (universally speaking).

[@VoxVenenatus]

Makes me wonder if there's planetary systems with non-circular orbits. Like, a planet doing a partial revolution around one star, switching over to another star, doing a partial revolution there, and then coming back to the first star. So, an 8 instead of an O, for example. Or something even more wonky. 🤔😵‍💫

[@SoulDelSol]

It's the 3 body problem

[@peeperleviathan2839]

Yes that is how P type orbits work (orbits that orbit multiple stars) Imagine how difficult it would be to go to another planet

[@marccracchiolo4935]

Wow this is amazing. I never thought that more than three stars could orbit each other to find great numbers of them can and some have placed like Alpha Centauri is fascinating. I hope they find a way to send a probe to Alpha Centauri and we can see the whole thing up close.

[@michaelpettinger207]

This makes me wonder if multi-star systems are a significant source of rogue planets (or would planets even be able to form in, say, a five- or six-star system?)

[@ER78A]

I’m a grad student searching for a new CBP, so I’m stoked about this video!!

[@magma2050]

BEBOP-1 was named after the project that discovered it, "Binaries Escorted By Orbiting Planets". Sounds suspiciously like a backronym. I'm left wondering if they're fans of the music genre, TMNT, or anime...

[@DtWolfwood]

im going to say 3. based solely on the fact i've read the 3 body problem... now i will watch this video.

[@TBJ1118]

Makes you think, if us humans took so long to figure out a decent gravitational theory with a simple system, if ever there would be life on those they're going to struggle quite a bit before hitting the right formula

[@connecticutaggie]

Usually the only orbiting systems that are stable are "2 body systems" - "3 body systems" are usually not stable. BUT, you say, what about our Solar System, it has way more than 2 bodies. Yes, that is true but not that as Savannah describes the multiple n-body systems, she always describes them as a combination of two body systems Ex: For a planet orbiting a binary star, the binary stars are affected very little by the planet so they operate as a 2-body pair and the planet orbits the center of mass of the pair so the planet and the stars operate as a 2-body pair where the stars together are one of the bodies. Also, as she mentions, a three star system usually only works if one of stars is well isolated from the other pair by either size or distance so that the trio can act like a duo.

[@Caboosethedead]

Cool. I did a bit of work on planet hunter years ago.

[@dalektorgo2973]

That's a lot of bodies swinging around each other. Like a circle in a circle, like a spiral within a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel.

[@_andrewvia]

As always, Yay Savannah!

[@danielbickford3458]

The home system of Honor Harrington, the Star of David Weber's Honor Harrington series, is a binary system. The way they described it it was effectively a star with a bunch of planets and a second star with a second bunch of planets but each system is orbiting each other. As far as I remember there was no planets that orbit the common point

[@DrakiniteOfficial]

Hold up.... Is the visual at 1:35 correct???? Why are the stars _independently_ orbiting an invisible point in the center, instead of orbiting their shared center of mass? The center of mass in this system looks like it's moving around in a really weird way.

[@ChrispyNut]

Follow up please ... "These are the orbits a planet could have, if we injected on into the star systems". E2A: Maybe I should request this from Isaac Arthur instead. A tad more on-topic there. 🙂

[@tashdid-08]

i came here just because my food was getting cold. i had to open a video asap. :) i just understand that this video is about some space thingy

[@evasartorius9528]

Great work BTW.

[@lenrussell2424]

Very cool!!!

[@grantpflum6844]

How would a year work in a solar system with more than three stars?

[@daniel_rossy_explica]

If I understand it correctly, the more stars there are in a system, the less mass there is to form planets, so the chance of finding one dminishies as the number of stars increases.

[@radagastwiz]

"It's one planet, Michael. How many stars could it have?"

[@donaldwert7137]

Sounds like a song by Peter, Paul and Mary: "How many suns can one planet have before it gets to-orn apart..."

[@johnnyearp52]

Very interesting.

[@Stammer6]

Given what we know about life, I wonder how many different star system setups could exist that include at least one habitable world where it isn't getting fried for some periods and frigid in others. One that comes to mind is something like Europa, which doesn't get enough energy from the Sun, but the tidal forces from Jupiter keep its interior warm enough that it might even be habitable.

[@RipleySawzen]

I wouldn't really classify a planet orbiting Proxima as having three suns. Those other two stars are very far away.

[@k-dawg7867]

I also enjoy Sea of Stars, great game

[@violetlight1548]

@SciShow Can you post a link to the citizen scientist program this video talked about? Thanks!

[@ffiordhn]

I have a question regarding Proxima Centauri and its planet: if hypothetical aliens had slightly different photoreceptors, evolutionarily "calibrated" for longer wavelengths (that go deeper into the infrared than ours), they'd feel their sun is as bright as ours is to us, no?

[@draugarnatt3816]

Not necessarily, especially considering that Proxima would look much larger in the sky than the Sun does from the Earth, so the same amount of light would come from a larger apparent area; thus, a given unit of area would appear to radiate less light and thus appear dimmer. And of course, some eyes are more sensitive than others.

[@ayanbarua2400]

Issac Asimov wrote a story about a 6 star system as far as I remember. Glad to know there is one.

[@ryanvansurksum6119]

While most stars are in multi star systems, most star systems have only one star. So it's not weird to be in a star system with one star. Yes, both of these statements are true. An example, I have 10 widgets and 7 widget systems, 4 of those widget systems have one widget each (4 total widgets) and 3 of those widget systems have 2 widgets (6 total widgets). A minority of systems contain the majority of widgets.

[@thekaxmax]

About half the stars in the Galaxy have at least one planet. Statistically, a really large proportion of planets are in binary or more systems. So, it's not usual to only have one, just likely.

[@JasonB808]

Uh it makes no sense. 😂

[@thekaxmax]

@@JasonB808 what doesn't? the stats from observations exist.

[@ryanvansurksum6119]

@@thekaxmax Yeah, that's assuming that probability planets around stars in a multi star system is the same as single star systems. There are many reasons why this probability might not be equal.

[@ryanvansurksum6119]

@@JasonB808 I put the widget example there to make it make sense. It's an example that shows how it actually the case. If there are 100 stars and half the star are in binary systems and half the are in solo star systems, how many binary systems and solo system would there be?

[@jayyydizzzle]

Who else misses SciShow Space?

[@jayyydizzzle]

Rip Sci show space :(

[@hassassinator8858]

@@jayyydizzzleRIP

[@trinathebookworm8977]

I miss it so much!

[@jaegerolfa]

They consolidated it?

[@ancientswordrage]

I do, but I don't mind having all presenters doing space stuff

[@vspence2]

Related to this physics problem, I recommend the hard science fiction book The Three Body Problem.

[@justinbremer2281]

RE: 3:05 -- Would a planet within the habitable zone of a much smaller star be close enough that the star would still appear approximately the same size as Sol does in our sky?

[@erinm9445]

Obligatory recommendation for the incredible Three Body Problem book trilogy!

[@kellyloganme]

So why is Alpha Centauri considered one trinary system rather than a unary with planets that has a binary system close by? Is there specific proximity range that arbitrarily groups celestial bodies into a system, or is it a matter of gravity effects, like stars exerting a certain amount of gravitational effect that we say makes this group a single system?

[@peeperleviathan2839]

Because alpha Centauri C (Proxima Centauri) is orbiting the pair

[@ryan49805]

So… our sun is nonbinary. 😅

[@al2642]

Of course, with all dice rolled in the galaxy, if we can look with enough detail, we should see all multi-star system having planets in odd orbits, if those orbits are mathematically valid. So, how many stars is the upper limit for a stable mathematical orbit?

[@janetf23]

Every time I hear Savannah's voice in the intro I get happy and look forward to the content even more.👏

[@Jagzeplin]

what u got against hank and michael? :0

[@janetf23]

Not a thing, love 'em, also Stefan, Rose, and Reid, it's just that Savannah's voice and her delivery always make me happy. Ok with U?!@@Jagzeplin

[@Jagzeplin]

@@janetf23 i suppose

[@MaekarManastorm]

Weirdo

[@Cat_Woods]

I honestly have a hard time with the pitch of it.

[@rmdodsonbills]

Given the sheer number of stars in just our galaxy, I don't think I'm going too far out on the limb to predict that there is at least one 6-star system with at least one planet out there. Mark your calendars! :)

[@StevenRayMorris]

This video sounds like me trying to explore my polycule to my parents.

[@PendragonDaGreat]

2:40 and everyone that's taken an introductory course in astrodynamics screams out in pain umbling something about an N-body problem. (as if they weren't already over the binaries)

[@sherrihaight2724]

Winter is coming and going and coming and going

[@lavalamp6410]

The title of the video confused me until I realised it was about how many solar systems with multiple suns can have a planet. Re-reading the title still looks wrong, still confused about what the question it is trying to ask. The answer to the question it is asking depends on how many planets are in the system and also how many stars are in the system. So, in our solar system with 8 planets each planet can have 12.5% of a sun.

[@willmendoza8498]

Have you seen the Yelp reviews for our Solar System? It only has one star… …I’ll see myself out.

[@robertjameslabonte4905]

Imagine that there is a lien life out there who are looking at star systems and saying no life can be there cuz they only got one

[@JasonB808]

Nope. The Universe is so mind boggling big that there are likely millions of intelligent life forms but each life form thinks they are alone in the universe.

[@velvetmagnetta3074]

In that 6-star system (triplet of binaries), that one binary was really far away (its orbit around the other 2 was once every 2,000 years) but passed through in between the other 2 binaries! Wouldn't that mess up the closer binaries' orbits? Or is this proposed to be a stable system? And how close would they get to colliding? Or are they so far away from each other - even at their closest - that a collision is just very unlikely? Because I could imagine a case where the closer binaries are happily orbiting each other, but they're in their horizontal (or tangent to the distant binary's orbit) stage right on the line where the distant binary will be passing through! 💥 Just imagining those orbits makes me nervous 😖 Also, all the planets and stars and galaxies are always moving and orbiting around SOMETHING, right? Like, our planet is orbiting our sun while the sun is within the Milky Way galaxy that is, in turn, orbiting a massive black hole which, in turn, is orbiting along with other galaxies a supermassive black hole, etc., etc., etc. So, how do we decide when a system (binary or otherwise) is a system in itself and not just part of a larger system? For example, that outer binary of the 6-star system could just be its own system that interacts with another system every 2 millenia. But I'm sure there are other stars with much longer periods that will also interact with that system at some far distant future point in time. I just feel like if we're going to be discovering these cool new orbiting configurations, we might need to maybe tighten up the definitions and terminology?

[@laser8389]

"Trinary" just sounds so weird to me, but I looked it up and apparently it *is* correct, but "ternary" is much more common.

[@Titus-as-the-Roman]

Just to see if I could I once completely mapped out, w/motion implied, the Castor System. Did it but after my ears stopped bleeding I think I may have damaged something integral to my neural pathways.

[@fruit3193]

All I need to know is that Planet Namek having three suns and never seeing nighttime is plausible lol

[@andreblanchard8315]

You find six planets in a Klemperer rosette moving at just under the speed of light. Keep a eye out for two headed ostriches.

[@alfredhernandez9799]

I walked outside my house the other night and discovered a multi star system that contained billions of stars. It was amazing! I know I will receive the Nobel Prize for this. I call the system the "Milky Way" galaxy, but it's actually billions of stars, all orbiting each other; You may all now bow down and show your reverence to my brilliance.

[@nathanandsugar5252]

Waiting for a sci-fi setting with four suns. Would probably be a not great place to live, but I've seen worse.

[@davidhand9721]

I thought that lone stars were kind of uncommon. Are you certain? Citation?

[@Steel6W2]

This makes me think of the system in Firefly/Serenity. iirc, it's a 5 star system.

[@sypeiterra7613]

My storys colony system has a trinary syestem :D A binary in the center and a third dwarf star orbiting those two stars at a distance

[@krystalreverb]

I have one small nitpick. The Solar System is *ours*. Our sun’s actual official name is Sol, which is why we are the Solar System. All other systems like that out there are called star systems, because they do not orbit Sol. They orbit their own sun, which may or may not have a name.

[@Miamcoline]

Super rad

[@davids9027]

I am very happy to have a dull single sun as opposed to 7 suns with a recurring total eclipse every several thousand years, re Dr. Asimov's"Nightfall"