The key observation was that the Nu Octantis planet is retrograde -- the planet and one star both orbit the second star, but they do so in opposite directions, with the planet having the tighter orbit around the second star.
This (old) vid should help if you're having trouble visualizing the orbits:
Most people understand a star as being the center of a solar system. And again, most people can understand a binary star as having 2 stars at the center, with planets orbiting around both.
This system however throws that out of the window. Sure, the stars are a binary system, but to the planet, the White dwarf orbits like a planet. So whilst it is a binary star system, from the planet's perspective, it's not. The white dwarf is just a big glowing planet orbiting a star.
In fact Solaris, from the book by Stanisaw Lem, orbits two starts. Probably the reason why it has this orbit is due to a big gelatinous sentient being that creates humans using neutrinos, who knows...
The key observation was that the Nu Octantis planet is retrograde -- the planet and one star both orbit the second star, but they do so in opposite directions, with the planet having the tighter orbit around the second star.
This (old) vid should help if you're having trouble visualizing the orbits:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
This system however throws that out of the window. Sure, the stars are a binary system, but to the planet, the White dwarf orbits like a planet. So whilst it is a binary star system, from the planet's perspective, it's not. The white dwarf is just a big glowing planet orbiting a star.
On another note, it would be a
In fact Solaris, from the book by Stanisaw Lem, orbits two starts. Probably the reason why it has this orbit is due to a big gelatinous sentient being that creates humans using neutrinos, who knows...
The key observation was that the Nu Octantis planet is retrograde – the planet and one star both orbit the second star, but they do so in opposite directions, with the planet having the tighter orbit around the second star. Lee says this is unusual but makes the system’s configuration stable – even though it means that the planet repeatedly moves through the narrow space between the two stars. [newscientist.com]
From the linked abstract:
Stable fits to all radial velocity data require the planetary orbit to be retrograde and practically coplanar.