A planet with two suns discovered - First of its kind

[nuune]

WASHINGTON — US astronomers said Thursday they have discovered the first planet that is orbiting two Suns, much like the fictional home of Luke Skywalker featured in Star Wars.

 

Skywalker's native planet of Tatooine was hot and desert-like, but this planet, called Kepler-16b, is a freezing cold world about the size of Saturn, orbiting two parent Suns in a near perfect circle about 200 light years away.

 

The planet was glimpsed with the US space agency's Kepler space telescope, which monitors the brightness of 155,000 stars, according to the research published in the journal Science.

 

"This discovery is stunning," said co-author Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution for Science Department of Terrestrial Magnetism.

 

"Once again, what used to be science fiction has turned into reality."

 

While astronomers have previously glimpsed planets they believed were orbiting two stars, they had never before seen one actually passing in front of its two Suns so this discovery offers the first proof.

 

"Kepler-16b is the first confirmed, unambiguous example of a circumbinary planet -- a planet orbiting not one, but two stars," said co-author Josh Carter of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

"Once again, we're finding that our solar system is only one example of the variety of planetary systems nature can create."

 

If there were people on Kepler-16b, they could relax to the view of a double sunset, but such a scenario is highly unlikely due to the planet's extreme frigid surface temperature of -100 to -150 Fahrenheit (-73 to -101 Celsius).

 

The chill is likely due to the fact that even though the planet has two Suns which it orbits every 229 days at a distance of 65 million miles (105 million kilometers), they are smaller and cooler than our single Sun.

 

One of Kepler-16b's Suns is 20 percent as massive as ours, and the other is 69 percent as massive.

 

While the planet orbits them, the two Suns dance with each other in an "eccentric 41-day orbit," the study said.

 

The study was led by Kepler scientist Laurance Doyle of the California-based SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute.

 

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved

[Jacaylbaro]

Subxaan .... wax ha ku qaateen deee

[nuune]

^^ It is about 200 light years away, or 1175725074636721.5 Miles, one light year is equal to: 5878625373183.61 Miles, if a spacecraft were to sent there, it will arrive there after 900 billion years, one way trip lee waaye halahaas.

 

 

 

Ps: Gaaladan qaar baa ku cibra qaato mucjisooyinkan oo kale oo Ilaah hanuuniyo, qaarna weyba ku sii gaaloobaan.

[Garnaqsi]

(Puts on the Doctor's voice): My home planet, Gallifrey, had twin suns. The second sun would rise in the south, the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver. When they caught the light every morning, they lit the forest on fire.

 

Another description, on planets with two suns, that I like is from the film K-PAX in which the progonist describes his home planet as having seven purple moons and two suns that rise together only once in every 200 years! Ah, human imagination!

[Nin-Yaaban]

Jaceylbaro meeshaas haloo diro. Hasoo indho indheeye. Calankiisana hakuu soo tagee.

[Showqi]

^ Lakiin meeshaas qoladiisa ma joogto,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I mean his kind of people like James Brown

[Nin-Yaaban]

lol, runtaa. Atleast Magaciisa ayaa loo bixin lahaa. "Planet Jacylbaro". That's best name.

[Prometheus]

Subxaanallah! Hallalejuah! But more importantly, thank goodness for science. Neat stuff.