The heavenly body in a circumstellar orbit - what is it?

In space, astronomers find countless different objects. They are stars, exoplanets, nebulae, asteroids, quasars. Some of these objects are in certain orbits. And are any celestial bodies moving in orbits around the stars?

The heavenly body in a circumstellar orbit - what is it?

First, you need to consider what the concept of "orbit" means. This is the trajectory along which the celestial body rotates. For example, the Earth revolves around our sun - the Sun. Around the Earth, in turn, the Moon makes its way. The heavenly body in the circumstellar orbit can be, first, a planet, secondly, an asteroid, and also a comet. The smaller celestial bodies here are not considered by astronomers, since they are included in the category of space debris. After all, their orbits due to the small mass of such celestial bodies will not have the main property - periodicity. Any body of a larger mass will be able to influence the trajectory of their movement - up to a complete stop.

Also, permanent satellites have Earth satellites created by man. In form they resemble elongated ellipses. The nearest point of the orbit is perigee, and the most remote point is apogee. Each celestial body in the circumstellar orbit of the Sun moves in the same direction. This is an amazing fact about the solar system, which is proof of one of the hypotheses of its origin. According to this theory, the solar system originated from a cloud of dust and gas. In addition to thousands of small planets, even asteroids are moving in the same direction.

Asteroids in the Solar System

Asteroids scientists call celestial bodies, whose diameter exceeds 30 meters. They, in turn, can have their own satellites. The very word "asteroid" was proposed by composer Charles Bernie and astronomer William Herschel, it means "like a star." When observing asteroids, their appearance did not differ much from the stars. The stars looked like radiant discs, and the asteroids appeared in the form of luminous dots. At present, the so-called asteroid belts are of serious scientific interest for astronomers . They are one of the largest space objects in the solar system. Inside the solar system is the main belt of asteroids, located between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.

Comets - celestial bodies with a trajectory

What more could a celestial body be found in a circumstellar orbit? The answer may seem surprising, but it's a comet. These celestial bodies also rotate in orbits around the Sun. In translation from Greek, "comet" means "shaggy star". As you approach the sun, the comet becomes brighter, and its foggy part stretches out. Bright comets can be seen on the horizon with the naked eye. The periods of rotation of these celestial bodies around the Sun can be from several years to whole decades.

When the comet is far from the Sun, it is invisible from the Earth. And when approaching, it becomes accessible to the ordinary observer. For the first time, the periodicity of the rotation of comets around the Sun was discovered by the scientist Halley in the 17th century. Watching one of the comets, he found out that it moves along the same principle as other planets in the solar system. Halley predicted the date of the return of this comet to earth observers. The prediction of the scientist was brilliantly justified.

The discovery of scientists: an asteroid in orbit of a dying star

In October 2013, astronomers discovered a celestial body in the circumstellar orbit of one of the distant dying stars. The light under the name G61 already belongs to a group of white dwarfs and is distant from the solar system at a distance of about 150 million light years. The heavenly body that rotated around this star turned out to be an asteroid on which scientists discovered a huge amount of water reserves. This discovery allowed astronomers to assume that once inhabited planets like ours could exist in this system.

This case is the first when outside the solar system, two key conditions for the emergence of life were discovered - the rocky surface and water that the celestial body possessed in the circumstellar orbit. This suggests that once there was life. What forms it could take in this system - scientists can only guess. Analysis of the dying asteroid showed that it consisted of water by 26%. This is similar to the dwarf planet of the solar system - Ceres. As in the found asteroid, and on Ceres, the relative mass of water on them is much greater than on Earth.

G61 and the celestial body in a circumstellar orbit - the answer lies in the future of the Earth

Earth is inherently a dry planet. Only 0.02% of its total mass is water. Scientists are sure that the oceans appeared after the Earth was formed. According to the researchers, a large number of water-rich asteroids could collide with Earth. For the first time, after finding such a celestial body in a circumstellar orbit, the scientists made conclusions about the possible future of mankind. They suggest that after 6 billion years, exactly the same alien explorers will study the stony fragments that rotate around our dying Sun, and come to the conclusion that life could once exist on Earth.