A team of international astronomers has made a remarkable discovery of three Earth-sized planets located in the binary star system TOI-2267, approximately 190 light-years away from Earth. This finding, which was announced recently in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, is significant as it is the first known instance of planets transiting in front of both stars in a binary system.
Lead researcher Sebastian Zuniga-Fernandez from the University of Liege highlighted the importance of this discovery, stating, “This makes TOI-2267 the first binary system known to host transiting planets around both of its stars.” The research team utilized NASA”s planet-hunting TESS spacecraft to identify these three planets, which challenges the previously held belief that binary star systems are too unstable for the formation of complex planetary systems.
Co-researcher Francisco J Pozuelos emphasized that this discovery overturns several long-standing assumptions about how planets form and exist in binary systems. “Our discovery breaks several records, as it is the most compact and coldest pair of stars with planets known, and it is also the first in which planets have been recorded transiting around both components,” Pozuelos explained.
The findings from TOI-2267 offer a unique natural laboratory for scientists to study how rocky planets can form and persist under extreme dynamical conditions, which were previously thought to threaten their stability. Zuniga-Fernandez noted that the compact nature of this binary system allows researchers to test the boundaries of planet formation models in such complex environments. He added, “It allows us to test the limits of planet formation models in complex environments and to better understand the diversity of possible planetary architectures in our galaxy.”
This groundbreaking discovery not only adds to our understanding of planetary systems but also opens new avenues for further research into how planets can exist in binary star systems, expanding our knowledge of the universe.
