Is our sun part of a binary system?

[LooSea]

Firstly a direct quote from the NASA website

What percentage of the stars are binary systems?

The Answer

Somebody once said that "3 out of every 2 stars are in a binary". Seriously, the fraction is very high, but it's difficult to be precise, because it's difficult to prove that a certain star is definitely single. Of the stars nearest to the Sun, about half are known to be in multiple systems.

Koji Mukai

 

 

So the first question is why is our sun an exception to the rule?

 

There is thankfully some research being done into this at the Binary Research Institute.

 

The research centers on the changing of the rate of precession of the Equinoxes. Research shows that the rate of change of Precession is different for objects within our solar system as opposed to rate of change observed outside our solar system. Also the wobble is not constant it is being influenced by some outside force.

 

The other interesting wrinkle in this is that one candidate for a star involved in a multiple system with our own sun put forward is the star Sirius.

Edited February 25, 2015 by LooSea

[swansont]

So the first question is why is our sun an exception to the rule?

 

It's not? Half of systems are binary, half are not. We're in the half that isn't. That conforms to the rule.

[imatfaal]

The other interesting wrinkle in this is that one candidate for a star involved in a multiple system with our own sun put forward is the star Sirius.

 

Sirius? Our moon has a far greater gravitational influence on Sol than Sirius does.

 

Sirius and a lot of other stars - that would make sense and is the basis of our understanding of galactic dynamics but it isn't a binary system. Although we find that we need more mass than the stars and dust can account for - this is a problem; some have tried to fix it by changing the physics (the site you linked to mentions both MOND and MOG) other have postulated a dark matter that we cannot detect via electromagnetic radiation.

 

It is definitely an open area for research - at the moment the predictions by the dark matter theorist are pretty solid; ie they have not just sought to explain past observations they have made prediction which research has shown to be true through subsequent observations.

[LooSea]

The precession rate of Sirius is different from those of other stars and objects within the Solar System.

 

The opinion of Koji Mukai is not correct it is now 75% binary (multiple) 25% unknown.

Edited February 26, 2015 by LooSea

[swansont]

The opinion of Koji Mukai is not correct it is now 75% binary (multiple) 25% unknown.

 

Doesn't matter. Unless the rule is that all stars are part of binary systems, the fact that we aren't binary doesn't make us an exception to any rule. It just puts us in a minority.

[Kelnad]

I heard something about this but I thought Andromeda was mentioned as possibly effecting.

[Delta1212]

I heard something about this but I thought Andromeda was mentioned as possibly effecting.

I would be amazed to learn that our sun was in a binary system with Andromeda.

[Kelnad]

Why is it because of distance? Two nebula crashing, what if we are remnants from long ago?

[Robittybob1]

 

There is thankfully some research being done into this at the Binary Research Institute.

 

....

That was a well studied article. But does it really make a difference if we are in a long term binary orbit with another star?

[Kelnad]

People have recorded what looks like the sun flexing, if its effected by a black hole, a nearby star, or a very distant star, could explain it.

[John Cuthber]

This seems to me to be a bit like saying-"most planets don't have water; why are we on one of the few that does?".

[Delta1212]

Why is it because of distance? Two nebula crashing, what if we are remnants from long ago?

It's because Andromeda is a galaxy.

[Airbrush]

"...While there is no obvious visible companion star to our Sun, there could be a dark binary, such as a brown dwarf or possibly a relatively small black hole, either of which might be very difficult to detect, without accurate and lengthy analysis...."

 

http://www.binaryresearchinstitute.org/bri/research/introduction/theory.shtml

 

Recently I saw an episode of "The Universe" about the Nemesis Theory that our Sun has a binary companion with a period of 26 Million years. Wiki suggests that Nemesis is unlikely because most "solar-type" stars are single and no brown dwarfs have been detected by WISE out to 10 light years.

 

"Nemesis is a hypothetical red dwarf^[1] or brown dwarf,^[2] originally postulated in 1984 to be orbiting the Sun at a distance of about 95,000 AU (1.5 light-years),^[2] somewhat beyond the Oort cloud, to explain a perceived cycle of mass extinctions in the geological record, which seem to occur more often at intervals of 26 million years.^[2][3] As of 2012^[update], over 1800 brown dwarfs have been identified and none of them are inside the Solar System.^[4] There are actually fewer brown dwarfs in our cosmic neighborhood than previously thought. Rather than one star for every brown dwarf, there may be as many as six stars for every brown dwarf.^[5]The majority of solar-type stars are single.^[6]"

 

^{....Using newer and more powerful infrared telescope technology, able to detect brown dwarfs as cool as 150 kelvins out to a distance of 10 light-years from the Sun,[11] results from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE survey) have not detected Nemesis.[12][13] In 2011, David Morrison, a senior scientist at NASA known for his work in risk assessment of near Earth objects, has written that there is no confidence in the existence of an object like Nemesis, since it should have been detected in infrared sky surveys.[12}

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_Theory

Edited February 27, 2015 by Airbrush