Astronomers  discover  more planets

astronomersBEIJING. — Astronomers using data collected by NASA’s Kepler space telescope have discovered some curious planets circling their fiery star in tilted orbits, at about a 45 degree angle from the star’s equator. By comparison, all the planets in our solar system orbit with only a slight, seven-degree angle relative to our sun.

Although whacky orbits have been seen before, they generally are found in planetary systems containing a Jupiter-like gas giant in close orbit to its host star. But the star dubbed Kepler-56 has no hot Jupiter.

“It was a big surprise,” lead author of the study of NASA’s Ames Research Center told Nature.
Kepler-56 is about 3,000 light years from Earth and has a mass 30 percent greater than the Sun.

To help figure out why Kepler-56’s planets behaved so strangely, scientists used observations from the 10-meter Keck telescope in Hawaii to discover that what keeps the two planets stabilized in their skewed orbits is a third massive companion planet in a distant orbit.

“This is a new level of detail about the architecture of a planetary system outside our solar system,” co-author and Iowa State University physics and astronomy professor Kawaler said. — Xinhuanet.

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey