Harvard scientists' new study claims sun once had a binary twin in our solar system

A ory published by scientists from Harvard University in ' Astrophysical Journal Letters' proposes that sun may have had a binary twin of similar mass composition in our solar system. If presence of binary twin of sun is confirmed n it can increase likelihood that Oort cloud was formed as observed and ninth planet was also captured within solar system rar than being formed.

Harvard scientists propose existence of sun's binary twin in solar system

In press release by Centre of Astrophysics department in Harvard, Dr Avi Loeb, Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard, and Amir Siraj, a Harvard undergraduate student said that stars which were formed toger with sun due to dense gas molecular gas cloud, missing stellar binary companion of can help to explain formation of Oort cloud which exists in our solar system today. 

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Newly found ory from Harvard suggests formation of Oort cloud with debris leftover from formation of solar system and its neighbours, where objects were scattered by planet to great distances, out of which some were exchanged among stars. But, missing piece from puzzle could be lost binary twin.  According to Amir, "Previous models have had difficulty producing expected ratio between scattered disk objects and outer Oort cloud objects. binary capture model offers significant improvement and refinement, which is seemingly obvious in retrospect: most Sun-like stars are born with binary companions."

If early stellar composition helped in capturing of Oort cloud, implications of our understanding of solar system's formation would be important. Loeb said, "Binary systems are far more efficient at capturing objects than are single stars." He also stated in press release, "If Oort cloud formed as observed, it would imply that Sun did, in fact, have a companion of similar mass that was lost before Sun left its birth cluster."

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long-lost binary twin can answer many questions

scientists suggest that presence of Oort Cloud in our solar system can actually help to answer so many questions about earth's origin. It can help because objects present in outer Oort cloud must have had an important role to play in Earth's history such as presence of water on earth's surface, extinction of disaurs, etc. 

model also has implications for hyposized Planet Nine, which Loeb and Siraj believe isn’t alone out re. " puzzle is t only regarding Oort clouds, but also extreme trans-Neptunian objects, like potential Planet Nine," said Loeb. "It is unclear where y came from, and our new model predicts that re should be more objects with a similar orbital orientation to Planet Nine."

If we are to believe that binary companion of sun contributed to formation of outer solar system, question, where did it go? Loeb suggests that because of presence of passing stars in birth cluster, binary twin of sun must have been distanced due to gravitational influence. "Before loss of binary, however, solar system already would have captured its outer envelope of objects, namely Oort cloud and Planet Nine population." Siraj furr added that long-lost twin companion of sun could w be in Milk Way Galaxy. 

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