Acircumtriple planet is a celestial mass that is hypothesized to be orbiting not only a single star but three stars at the same time.[1] Scientists observing the star systemGW Ori, which is a large disk of dust and gases about 1,300 light years away fromEarth, suspect that there may be a circumtriple planet orbiting the three stars.[2] They observed a gap in the vast dust cloud and they hypothesize that there may be a planet in this gap.[2] The planet itself has not been seen but its influence may explain gravitational oddities within the star system.[3] By using computer modeling, some scientists believe that aJupiter-sized planet may be able to explain the star system's rings and strange behavior, according to one account.[4] If so, this may be the first known example of a circumtriple planet in the universe.[4]
In 2022, tentative evidence of a very small planet was found around the triple systemPSR J0337+1715.[5] In 2024, additional data allowed the planet's mass to be constrained to0.0041±0.003 M🜨, making it one of the smallest objects directly detected outside the Solar System so far.[6]
In 2024, the substellar objectCWISE J233531.55+014219.6 was detected to be bound to theGliese 900 triple star system at a distance of12000 AU,[7] thus becoming the planet with the longest orbital period and first confirmed circumtriple planet.
In 2015, the planet or brown dwarf, 2MASS J0019−6226 was found to orbit the three stars in the HIP 1481 system. It is believed to be about 15 times the mass of Jupiter and is roughly 155,000AU away. 2MASS J0019−6226 has a size of about1.6 RJ. If considered as a planet, it would be the first confirmed circumtriple planet and the planet with the largest semi-major axis.[8][9]
Circumtriple planets are likely to be a very rare phenomenon in the universe.[4] Studying them could add to human understanding of how planets form.[3]
A circumtriple planet is prominently featured in theRemembrance of Earth's Past book series. In the series, the planet of Trisolaris orbits a three-star system, and the chaotic nature of the system drives the native species of the planet to seek refuge on Earth, which has a comparatively more "stable" one-star system.[10]
...The suspected planets are not the first found in triple star systems. But planets found in those other systems orbited just one of the stars, not all three stars....
..."It may be the first evidence of a circumtriple planet carving a gap in real time," said Jeremy Smallwood from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, lead author of the new paper....
...In a distant star system -- a mere 1,300 light years away from Earth -- researchers may have identified the first known planet to orbit three stars....
...There's now even more evidence that a bizarre star system perched on the constellation Orion's nose may contain the rarest type of planet in the known universe: a single world orbiting three suns simultaneously....
