What would the weather be like on a planet in a binary star system?
It really depends on the configuration of the star system. THIS WILL WORK: With a close binary, a G type star, equal in mass to our sun with a small red M type star with 0.2 solar masses with a separation of 0.1 AU, would not be a problem. This would be a 10.54 day period. An earthlike planet at 1.0 AU would be fine with an orbit period of 333.4 days. Bear in mind that the small cool star will never get closer to the planet than 0.9 AU. Most of the time you would get 2 sunsets and 2 sunrises which would look spectacular. It would also work with the same stars with a wide separation. The planet could orbit the G type star at a distance of 1.0 AU with the M type companion at a distance of 5 AU. On many occasions the red companion would be visible at night, making sleep a bit more difficult for some. THIS WOULD NOT SUPPORT LIFE: A possible chaotic configuration would be a figure 8 orbit between 2 stars of nearly equal mass. Temperatures would fluctuate wildly from freezing to boiling hot.
