Is it possible for one star to orbit another?

I'm dealing with a planet very similar to Earth, except that it has two suns. So, of course, it would be an extraordinary occasion when the inhabitants of the planet see only one sun in the sky. So the idea is that it is extremely rare for there to be a moment when the two stars and the planet align perfectly so that only one sun is visible in the sky. About once every 1000 years. Apparently, a prophecy made the last time the planet and the stars align, is to be fulfilled the next time it happens which (in the story) is about a few months away.

However, stars don't exist so close to each other for the simple reason that the gravitational pull between the two stars would be so great, they might very well end up colliding. Also, even if two stars could exist close together in space, a planet could not conceivably orbit around them both...

However, if we had a primary star that is maybe about the size of our current sun, and a secondary star in orbit who's radius is twice Jupiter's radius (by the way, the sun's radius is about 10 times Jupiter's radius), the gravitational pull would be stable enough that the secondary star, like our planets, would be able to remain in orbit. Instead of, you know, crashing into the primary star.

So basically, in this solar system, I have the primary star (the size of our sun), then the secondary star (with 2 times Jupiter's radius) is in the first orbital, then the home planet in the story (the size of earth) with at least one moon in the second orbital, and then the third orbital onwards may or may not be occupied by planets, it's not really relevant now.

Is this arrangement possible? Assuming the home planet is sufficiently far away enough from the two stars to not be baked to a crisp, could a star conceivably orbit another, and still support its system of planets?

I don't need super scientific answers. I'm not an expert in astronomy, and stuff, so errr... A slightly dumbed-down answer would be fine. :)

posted almost 8 years ago

ASH-Aisyah‭

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