Is There Really a Second Sun in Our Solar System?

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In summary: But we can detect very dim stars by noticing when a star gets brighter as something passes in front of it. This is called a "transit" and is how we've found almost all of the planets we know about orbiting other stars. In theory, if Nemesis is really close and really dim, we should be able to see it by the transits it causes. In practice, we've looked for this and found nothing. So the best evidence we have is that it doesn't exist.In summary, the theory that the solar system
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Ibby143
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Does anyone believe that the solar system has a second star? There is a theory that the solar system has a second, larger star called Nemesis. It has an oval shaped orbit around the sun, curving very close to the sun and then traveling 1 light year away, interrupting the asteroid belt surrounding our solar system, and sending a meteor straight at Earth. 1 orbit of Nemesis takes 26 million year, thus explaining why we get hit by a meteor every 26 million years.

But the thing I don't understand is, when the last meteor hit, why did no one see a second, massive sun in the sky? Or why didn't the Earth become extremely hot as the sun passed?
 
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  • #2
Ibby143 said:
There is a theory that ...

What is your source? It is impossible to comment sensibly without knowing exactly what it is that you've heard.
 
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  • #3
Ibby143 said:
There is a theory that the solar system has a second, larger star...
Why did no one see a second, massive sun in the sky?

Wiki Article
Wikipedia said:
  • In 2011, Coryn Bailer-Jones did an analysis of craters on the surface of the Earth and reached the conclusion that the earlier findings of simple periodic patterns to be statistical artifacts, and found that the crater record shows no evidence for Nemesis.
  • The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) failed to discover Nemesis in the 1980s.
  • The 2MASS astronomical survey, which ran from 1997 to 2001, failed to detect an additional star or brown dwarf in the Solar System
  • Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE survey) have not detected Nemesis
 
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Yes I realize this is only a theory, and there is not much evidence to support it, but there is so much we don't know about the universe we live in, something like this could may well be true.
 
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If "we get hit my a meteor every 26 million years" because of Nemesis making a close approach, then the reason why no one saw a "2nd massive sun in the sky when the last meteor hit" is because humans haven't been around that long.

We actually get hit by meteors a lot more often than that. We will barely miss being hit later today.

"Or why didn't the Earth become extremely hot as the sun passed? "
IF Nemesis came through our solar system millions of years ago, we have no way of knowing if Earth briefly became hotter since no one was around to observe this. But Nemisis can pass through the solar system without coming close to Earth. If Nemisis came close to Earth, or any planet, that planet would now have a very eccentric orbit. If Nemisis came close to the Sun, then all the planets would now have very eccentric orbits. So its safe to say that that hasn't happened. IIRC, the Nemisis proponents never envisioned it passing through the solar system's planetary region. It just dropped from 1 AU to the inner Oort Cloud, far from the planets.

In my opinion, the WISE survey that adjacent mentions put a second nail in the coffin of the Nemisis idea. The first nail was the Hipparcos survey. Nemisis, if it exists, should have a very large parallax. Hipparcos, designed to measure parallax, spotted no such object.
 
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Ibby143 said:
Yes I realize this is only a theory, and there is not much evidence to support it, but there is so much we don't know about the universe we live in, something like this could may well be true.

Gravity and the shape of the Earth are "only a theory".

In this case, Nemesis is a particularly speculative and unlikely hypothesis. If there were a star orbiting our sun, we would be able to see it with the weakest telescopes and it would be of a few very specific colors, so it seems unlikely that nobody would have caught onto it (one could design a computer program to search star catalogs to find such a star of an appropriate magnitude and color and then confirm it by measuring the parallax.)

Such searches have all turned out negative, strongly suggesting that this hypothesis has been roundly disproved.

Periodic extinction events are an interest of mine, but Nemesis seems a rather far-fetched and disproved hypothesis.
 
  • #7
Ibby143 said:
But the thing I don't understand is, when the last meteor hit, why did no one see a second, massive sun in the sky?

As everyone else has said, Nemesis is an unlikely hypothesis with no evidence to back it up. But in reference to this question, who do you think was around 26 million years ago to see it? Humans have only been around for about 0.2 million years, and have had recorded history for only about .002 million years.
 
  • #8
A second star would need to be very small and very dim, shining almost entirely in the far IR range. Even then, we have IR telescopes that should have detected any object with such properties nearby. The fact that we haven't detected such an object nearby is reason to believe that it doesn't exist. It's possible that we've somehow missed it, but that's an extraordinarily unlikely possibility.
 
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  • #9
Just to rephrase what has been said:

If Nemesis existed, we would see it. We don't.
 
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  • #10
The Nemesis hypothesis was reasonable when first proposed in 1984, a brown dwarf with a highly elliptical orbit and a period of about 26 million years. There seemed to be a pattern in asteroid hits, which are pretty well documented and dated. There was also a big signal-to-noise issue, so that the pattern was not at all obvious. At the time, no systematic survey of the outer solar system had yet been made. Since then, the issue has been largely resolved. The original data has been reexamined, and found to be all noise, no signal. We now have better telescopes, and not just in the visible-light range. Nemesis, if it existed, should have been found by now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(hypothetical_star)
 
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  • #11
Vanadium 50 said:
If Nemesis existed, we would see it. We don't.
Strictly as an aside, because the methodology for detecting a sky object is more sophisticated now, is that both Uranus and Neptune were observed many times before being discovered. Uranus can be seen with the naked eye, under good conditions. Neptune was seen in telescopes without it being known it was really a planet. Establishing Uranus and Neptune as planets meant separate direct observations of them to see that they were moving and calculate their orbits.
 

FAQ: Is There Really a Second Sun in Our Solar System?

1. What is the Solar System's Second Sun?

The Solar System's Second Sun, also known as Nemesis or the hypothetical companion star, is a proposed theory that suggests our Sun has a twin star that orbits around it in a highly elliptical orbit. This theory was first proposed in the 1980s to explain the periodic mass extinctions on Earth, but it has not been proven and is still highly debated among scientists.

2. Is there any evidence to support the existence of the Solar System's Second Sun?

While there is no concrete evidence to support the existence of the Solar System's Second Sun, there have been various studies and observations that have suggested its presence. These include irregularities in the orbits of some objects in the outer Solar System, as well as the presence of large amounts of comets in the Oort Cloud that could have been disrupted by the gravitational pull of a companion star.

3. What would be the effects of the Solar System's Second Sun on Earth?

If the Solar System's Second Sun does exist, it would have a significant impact on the orbits of planets and other objects in our Solar System. It could also potentially cause disturbances in the Oort Cloud, sending comets and other objects towards the inner Solar System. However, the exact effects would depend on the mass and distance of the companion star.

4. How likely is it that the Solar System's Second Sun exists?

The existence of the Solar System's Second Sun is still a highly debated topic among scientists. Some studies and observations have suggested its presence, while others have not found any evidence to support it. Without concrete evidence, it is difficult to determine the likelihood of its existence.

5. How do scientists study and search for the Solar System's Second Sun?

Scientists use various methods to study and search for the Solar System's Second Sun, including telescopes, computer simulations, and analyzing data from space probes. They also continue to gather new data and observations in hopes of finding evidence to support or disprove the existence of a companion star in our Solar System.

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