Astronomers show how planets form in binary systems without getting crushed

Astronomers show how planets form in binary systems without getting crushed
— Read on phys.org/news/2021-07-astronomers-planets-binary.html

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“A system like this would be the equivalent of a second Sun where Uranus is, which would have made our own solar system look very different,” said co-author Dr. Roman Rafikov from Cambridge’s Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.Rafikov and his co-author Dr. Kedron Silsbee from the Max Planck Institute for Extra-terrestrial Physics found that for planets to form in these systems, the planetesimals—planetary building blocks which orbit around a young star—need to start off at least 10 kilometres in diameter, and the disc of dust and ice and gas surrounding the star within which the planets form needs to be relatively circular”.