Discovery of an exoplanet three sunsets – SciencePost

Scientists announce the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting three stars. This is a sunset than on Tatooine, the planet with two suns in Star Wars.

A team of researchers from the University of Arizona, USA, announces the discovery of a unique system. Centaurus management, and Constellation, to meet the planet HD 131399Ab. Discovery through the Very Large Telescope (VLT), based in Chile, the exoplanet is located some 320 light years from Earth and is 16 million years, making it one of the youngest exoplanets discovered to date.

so far, nothing very surprising you will tell me, 131399Ab HD can then be confused with some other three thousand exoplanets discovered to date. But the beautiful plot. In fact, discovered orbiting three stars, scientists thought until now that this type of structure was unstable.

With a mass of about four times that of Jupiter, HD 131399Ab is one of the most young exoplanets discovered to date, certainly, but also one of the first directly observed. There, nothing very similar to our Earth wisely mailed to 150 million kilometers from its star. HD 131399Ab, it evolves around a star 80% larger than our Sun at a distance twice as great as that between the Sun and Pluto. But the amazing thing is these two stars, more distant, circling them quickly and probably also influence the orbit of the exoplanet.

ESO

Kevin Wagner, who participates in this study appeared in the famous Science says: “ for almost half of the revolution of the planet lasts 550 Earth years, the three stars are visible in the sky ” . According to the researchers, the exoplanet would have a surface temperature of 580 ° C. Nothing to do with our summer temperatures, although this characteristic makes it one of the coldest observed directly. the team also able to determine the evolution of stars in the sky of the planet. for many months, it would have a triple sunset sun. at other times, however, the stars are perfectly organized so that the bed of a match the rise of another.

the origin of this planet remains a mystery for now, and surprised the scientists. But it is clear that the location of HD 131399Ab on a wide orbit in a triple system shows that massive planets can be found on the long and possibly unstable orbits in multi-star systems. According to Wagner, “ We can not say that it broadens our understanding of the types of planetary systems, but it shows that there is more variety than what he seemed possible. Our conclusion is that the planets in multi-star systems have been much less studied, but are potentially as many as systems to a star “concludes the researcher.

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