Kepler 11 Solar System Comparison
This artist’s conception shows the Kepler-11 planetary system and our solar system from a tilted perspective to demonstrate that the orbits of each lie on similar planes.Image credit: NASA/Tim Pyle
Showing posts with label Two Suns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Two Suns. Show all posts
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
In the Light of Two Suns
In the Light of Two Suns
This artist's concept illustrates Kepler-16b, the first planet known to definitively orbit two stars -- what's called a circumbinary planet. The planet, which can be seen in the foreground, was discovered by NASA's Kepler mission.The two orbiting stars regularly eclipse each other, as seen from our point of view on Earth. The planet also eclipses, or transits, each star, and Kepler data from these planetary transits allowed the size, density and mass of the planet to be extremely well determined. The fact that the orbits of the stars and the planet align within a degree of each other indicate that the planet formed within the same circumbinary disk that the stars formed within, rather than being captured later by the two stars.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
