Scientists Find Rare Double-Star Tatooine-Like Planet
A team of astronomers has made an exciting discovery by spotting a planet that has two stars. This Tatooine-like planet with two suns is present within the Cygnus Constellation and has been discovered with the help of the Kepler Space Telescope.
According to reports, this breakthrough has been achieved by a team of astronomers from the NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and San Diego State University. The planet, named Kepler-1647 b, is located at 3,700 light years away from Earth.
The planet is believed to be of the same age as Earth, that is, 4.4 billion years. According to the team of astronomers who made the discovery, the double star system of the planet has one star which is slightly larger than Earth's sun and the other one is slightly smaller.
The team further explained that it takes the planet a little more than three years to complete an orbit around its host stars. This is the longest orbital period known so far for a confirmed exoplanet to orbit around its suns.
The planet resembles the planet Tatooine from the famous movie series, "Star Wars." The planet completed an orbit around two stars. Such planets are also knows as circumbinary planets.
According to researcher William Welsh, such double-star planets are rare to find in reality. Welsh further explained how for such planets, the transits are not regularly spaced and in time and may vary in depth and duration. The transit of the planet was noticed back in 2011. However, more data and several years of in-depth analysis was needed to confirm that the transit came from a planet with two stars.
The team also assessed the mass of the planet with support from astronomers in the KELT Follow-Up Network. In addition, the team was able to figure out that the newly discovered planet was made up of gases, similar to Jupiter.
