Open AccessProxima Centauri: a transitional modified Newtonian dynamics controlled orbital candidate?
Author(s) -
Beech Martin
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society: letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.067
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1745-3933
pISSN - 1745-3925
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2009.00718.x
Subject(s) - eccentricity (behavior) , physics , orbit (dynamics) , candidacy , orbital eccentricity , astrophysics , astronomy , dynamics (music) , orbital elements , stars , psychology , aerospace engineering , engineering , social psychology , politics , political science , law , acoustics
The triple‐system candidacy of Proxima Centauri with α Centauri A/B is reviewed in terms of its potential to demonstrate an orbit controlled according to modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). It is noted that Proxima is already sufficiently distant from α Cen A/B that MOND corrections to its speed and orbit should be present and therefore potentially measurable. It is argued that present‐day observations of the Proxima– α Centauri A/B system do not rule out the possibility that Proxima occupies a low‐eccentricity orbit with an orbital period of the order of a few million years.