I see. I actually thought your comment might have been said in bad faith as an insult, but I now think it was focused on the context of the post, while mines was focused on the context of what I was replying to. I was replying to the aforementioned method of detecting planets via dopplar shifts in a star's light... I've always wondered about that--with how much precision can you actually know what is causing the shifts. How many gas giants, smaller planets, etc? For example, I suppose two planets of equal size, orbital plane, and 180 degrees from one another would mute their gravitational effect on their host star.
> For example, I suppose two planets of equal size, orbital plane, and 180 degrees from one another would mute their gravitational effect on their host star.
Such orbits are extremely rare. Any such orbit would be highly unstable, as any perturbation would cause the planet to deviate from its location. (Strictly speaking, there are five points where objects can have an orbit that matches that of another planet. They're called the Lagrangian points, and the only ones that are stable are L4 and L5, 60˚ ahead and behind the planet in its orbit.)
