Orbital Distance (a=AUs) | Orbital Period (P=years) | Orbital Eccentricity (e) | Orbital Inclination (i=degrees) | Mass (Earths) | Diameter (Earths) | Density (Earths) | Surface Gravity (Earths) | Metallicity (Solar) | |
AB Mass Center | 0.0 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sirius A | 6.43 | 50.1 | 0.592 | 136.5 | 706,000 | 183 | ... | ... | 1-7.4 |
Disrupted H.Z.? | 4.76 | 6.8 | 0 | 136.5 | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
Sirius B | 13.4 | 50.1 | 0.592 | 136.5 | 341,000 | 0.84 | ... | ... | 1-7.4 |
NOTE: This animation attempts to relate the possible orbits of Sirius AB (and a possibly disrupted habitable zone around Sirius A) to their common center of mass. The initial display does not show the system's actual orbital tilt (at an inclination of 136.5°) from the visual perspective of an observer on Earth. Indeed, the orbital inclination of any planet that may be discovered some day around Star A would likely be different from that of the habitable zone orbit depicted here.
Sirius A and B form a close binary separated "on average" by only about 19.8 AUs of an orbital semi-major axis -- which is about the same as the distance between Uranus and our Sun ("Sol"). The companion star, is a white dwarf, stellar remnant and is so dim that it cannot be perceived with the naked eye. The distance separating Sirius A from its companion varies between 8.1 and 31.5 AUs as the two swing around in a highly eccentric orbit (e= 0.59) that takes 50.1 years to complete (Willem Henrik van den Bos, 1960).
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