The researchers found that the narrow, polar debris ring around the binary star system 99 Herculis is shaped by two planets — each orbiting both stars in polar orbits, one inside the debris ring and one just outside.
Two planets are said to “shepherd the debris disc” because their gravitational pull maintains the ring’s narrow, stable structure.
They calculated the Chaotic zone and Hill radius.
Chaotic zone is a region around a planet’s orbit where gravitational perturbations make orbits of nearby small objects (like dust or debris) unstable over time. Its width depends on the mass of the planet and its distance from the stars.
Hill radius (Rₕ) defines the region of space around a planet where its gravity is stronger than the pull of the stars — i.e., the space where the planet can hold onto moons or control debris.
Source: https://arxiv.org/html/2510.08698v1#S2
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