Binary Systems orbits

[Romron]

So as far as I understand everything in our solar system orbits the center of mass (Barycenter?)

 

So in a binary system with planets how would the planets orbit?

Would it orbit around both suns in one long orbit?

Orbit around one sun?

Or orbit kind it like a figure 8?

 

I'm no science expert just an enthusiast.

[davidivad]

it is most likely that the planet would either orbit one star closely or orbit both stars like they were one big one (put simple).

a figure 8 pattern would be slingshot out into space to become a rogue planet.

even if the math just so happened to work out it would only last a short time as solar wind, star fuel consumption, and many other variables would quickly imbalance the integrity of such a spectacle.

[slyrat]

Romron, check out this link, written for non-astronomers by a NASA astrophysicist. It describes stable binary star systems with planets.

 

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/980122c.html

[Cosmobrain]

A possibility is that the two stars are orbiting very close to each other and the planet is much farther away from both, so its orbit could be pretty much stable