Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Has the Sun a companion star?

Abstract

PULSARS are accurate timekeepers. They are believed to be rotating neutron stars, with strong magnetic fields, and the energy they radiate is at the expense of their rotational kinetic energy1. As each pulsar ages, its period P (relative to the Solar System barycentre) slowly increases, and its period derivative P( = dP/dt) slowly decreases. Certain interesting pulsars (displayed in Table 1) have anomalously small period derivatives, and rather surprisingly, are found grouped together in the same region of the sky (shown in Fig. 1). I suggest here, as an explanation of the peculiar properties of these pulsars, that the barycentre of the Solar System is accelerated, possibly because the Sun is a member of a binary system and has a hitherto undetected companion star.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gunn, J. E. & Ostriker, J. P. Astrophys. J. 160, 979 (1970).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Lyne, A. G., Ritchings, R. T. & Smith, F. G. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 171, 579 (1975).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Harrison, E. R. & Tademaru, E. Astrophys. J. 201, 447 (1975).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Helfand, D. J. & Tademaru, E. Nature 267, 130 (1977).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Helfand, D. J. & Tademaru, E. Astrophys. J. 216, 842 (1977).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Taylor, J. H. & Manchester, R. N. Astr. J. 80, 794 (1975).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Terzian, Y. & Davidson, K. Astrophys. Space Sci. 44, 479 (1976).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Flowers, E. & Ruderman, M. A. Astrophys. J. 215, 302 (1977).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Macy, W. W. Astrophys. J. 190, 153 (1974).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Jones, P. B. Nature 262, 120 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Hulse, R. A. & Taylor, J. H. Astrophys. J. Lett. 195, L51 (1975).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Taylor, J. H., Hulse, R. A., Fowler, L. A., Gullahorn, G. E. & Rankin, J. M. Astrophys. J. Lett. 206, L53 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Richards, D. W., Rankin, J. M. & Zeissig, G. A. Nature 251, 37 (1974).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Gullahorn, G. E., Payne, R. R., Rankin, J. M. & Richards, D. W. Astrophys. J. Lett. 205, L151 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Mansfield, V. N. & Rankin, J. M. Vistas in Astronomy (in the press).

  16. Shklovsky, I. S. Astrophys. Lett. 8, 101 (1970).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Helfand, D. J., Taylor, J. H. & Manchester, R. N. Astrophys. J. Lett. 213, L1 (1977).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. Van De Kamp, P. A. Rev. astr. Astrophys. 9, 103 (1971).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Van De Kamp, P. Pub. astr. Soc. Pac. 73, 404 (1961).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Van Horn, H. M. IAU Symp. White Dwarfs (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1970).

  21. Ostriker, J. P. A. Rev. astr. Astrophys. 9, 353 (1971).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Kumar, S. S. Low-Luminosity Stars 255 (Gordon and Breach, New York, 1969).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Jastrow, R. & Cameron, A. G. W. (eds) Origin of the Solar System (Academic, New York, 1963).

  24. Slavenas, P. Trans. astr. Obs. Yale Univ. 6, 35 (1927).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Kopal, Z. Close Binary Systems 108 (Wiley, New York, 1959).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ward, W. R. J. geophys. Res. 79, 3375 (1974).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Hays, J. D., Imbrie, J. & Shackleton, N. J. Science 194, 1121 (1976).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Oort, J. H. Bull. astr. Inst. Neth. 11, 259 (1951).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Van De Kamp, P. Elements of Astromechanics 128 (Freeman. San Francisco, 1964).

    MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

HARRISON, E. Has the Sun a companion star?. Nature 270, 324–326 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/270324a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/270324a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing