The binary star system they name Alpha Janua and Beta Janus
The children ... had been engrossed in playing the constellation game for days. They made considerable progress in mapping out large patches of the visible sky. Lance and Laura looked out through the ship’s viewscreens, choosing groups of stars and giving them names. Dyne projected a hologram of a star globe between them and Dbee tried to attach the children’s selected names to the correct patterns of stars from the outside of that sphere.
“Look at the big man!” Laura yelled. Heads turned in her direction from all over the bridge. ... “He’s looking to our right, see,” Laura took Dbee’s hand and pointed it in the direction the ship was headed in.
“Yeah,” Lance agreed, “but he’s looking to our left. There’s his nose.”
Krizel Kane snapped out of his reverie at Laura’s discovery, and looking straight ahead of the Lion’s Fang he saw the giant faces stare back. “Janus!” he said.
“Look at that,” Flash said, now that he was pointed in the right direction. “It’s a two headed man.”
“Well done, kid!” Captain Eliufoo looked at the boy and smiled.
Kobachev hoped that it was not the face of God.
“Sir, we’re almost 18AUs closer to ... Alpha Janus and Beta Janus ... than when we came out of hyperspace,” the Navigator reported.
“That’s not right,” Kobachev contradicted. “They should be called Janus-A and Janus-B if it’s a binary star.”
“Oh, yeah, well ...,” the Navigator hesitated. “I was thinking of them as the first two stars in the Janus constellation.”
“That’s one hell of a constellation.” The Captain tried not to imagine those eyes focusing on him as the ship approached.
So my first question was do binary star systems have planets?
Answer: According to a February 26, 2013 article in space.com planets orbiting binary star systems have to deal with the stresses of more than one star. But new research reveals that close binaries could be as good as singles when it comes to hosting habitable planets. Low-mass twins could make the best hosts, because their combined energy extends the habitable region farther away than would exist around a single star. After modeling a variety of binary systems, two astronomers determined that stars 80 percent as massive as the Sun, if close enough together, could allow for conditions that would be ideal for hosting habitable planets. ... more
As they approach the binary stars, they look for a habitable planet.
“Sir, the ship’s computers confirm that there are planets orbiting ... Alpha Janus and Beta Janus,” the Navigator reported. “One of them is in the habitable zone.”
“The sensors read it as Earthlike, sir,” Flash added.
“What exactly do you mean, Earthlike?” the Captain asked.
“About 1.01 times the size of Earth ... and it has water and an atmosphere,” Flash continued, checking the data being sent to him.
“Breathable?”
“Probably,” Flash adjusted his projected controls. “Mass 0.98 Earth and gravity indistinguishable from Earth’s.”
“How’d we get so lucky?” K asked.
“I don’t think gravity that high is lucky. It’ll hurt my Martian bones,” Mr. Kane disagreed.
“We aren’t there yet,” Krizel said.
...
“We’re still moving fast,” the Captain said to the Navigator.
“Yes, sir. It should take a week or two to reach it from here.”
“Any other options, Mister Li?”
“No sir, that’s all there is.”
“All There Is!” shouted Lance. He had been waiting for another chance to improve his score with respect to Laura. “Call the planet, All There Is!” He smiled broadly and nodded a take that to his companion. Then just to show off, “Or maybe, Al Theris? Like the Arab astronomers’ names for the stars.”
“That’s not Arabic,” Li Xuan muttered to Flash. “I think Theris is Buddhist.”
“Whatever,” Flash whispered back, “Let the kid have some fun.”
So the next question was how long would it take to slow down to capture velocity after they emerged from hyperspace. These are my scrap calculations.
Alpha Janus and Beta Janus have a common barycenter ... lagrange points ... capture orbit ... transfer orbit ... 2 deg arc separation ... C = 2 pi r ... 360 deg/2 deg = r/0.3au ... 108.0au/2 = r ... r = 54au NO! ... Jupiter 5.34aus, Saturn 9.8aus ... solar disk = 1800 arc sec = 0.5deg ... 0.15au separation at 1.4 au gives 12.2deg ... 0.15au separation at 54au gives 19min
Timing of descent: The speed of light is 299,792,458 mps = 300,000 km/sec. 1au = 149.60 x 10^6 km = 92.956 x 10^6 mi, so 18 au = 2,692,761,678 km = 8,078,285,034 mi
1. Out of hyperspace (54 AUs to Altheris) v0 was 1g for 18 hrs = 1,418,855 mph (635,688 mps) = 34,052,253 miles/day + 3g for 20 min v = v0 + at = 635,638 mps + 3*9.81 m/s^2*20min = 635,688mps + 35,316mps = 701,004 mps (1,564,641 mph)
2. Touched by the angel dragged at 1g for 1 day ... s = s0 + v0t + 0.5at^2 = 60,253,072 miles but 2g for 6 days ... = 1,859,829,963 miles = 18au (Earth to Leviathon in 20 days for 8au)
3. Left again free fall 0g acceleration for 6 days ... 18au ... recognize orbit passing Al Theris but too fast ... panic
4. Begin deceleration ... -2g for 6 days = 18au ... red devils catch them
5. Capture velocity at Al Theris (11200 m/s on Earth, escape velocity depends on direction)