Kepler-16b
Template:Planetbox begin Template:Planetbox image Template:Planetbox star Template:Planetbox orbit Template:Planetbox character Template:Planetbox discovery Template:Planetbox reference Template:Planetbox end Kepler-16b (formally Kepler-16 (AB)-b) is an extrasolar planet. It is a Saturn-mass planet consisting of half gas and half rock and ice,[1] and it orbits a binary star, Kepler-16, with a period of 229 days.[2] "[It] is the first confirmed, unambiguous example of a circumbinary planet – a planet orbiting not one, but two stars," said Josh Carter of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, one of the discovery team.[3]
The planet was discovered using the space observatory aboard NASA's Kepler spacecraft.[4] Scientists were able to detect the planet using the transit method, when they noticed the dimming of one of the system's stars even when the other was not eclipsing it.[4] Furthermore, timing all the eclipses and transits of the planet and stars in the system has allowed for unusually high precision in the calculations of the sizes and masses of objects in the Kepler-16 system.[5] The leader of the planet's discovery team, Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, said of this precision, "I believe this is the best-measured planet outside the solar system."[5] For example, the planet's radius is known to within 0.3%, better than that of any other known exoplanet (as of September 2011).[6]
Kepler-16b is also unusual in that it falls inside the radius that was thought to be the inner limit for planet formation in a binary star system.[5] According to Sara Seager, a planetary expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it was thought that for a planet to have a stable orbit around such a system, it would need to be at least seven times as far from the stars as the stars are from each other.[5] Kepler-16b's orbit is only about half that distance.[5]
As seen from Earth, the planet will cease transiting one star as soon as 2014, and will stop crossing the second and brighter star in 2018. After that, the planet will remain undetectable using the transit method until around 2042.[5]
The planet orbits on the outer edge of the habitable zone,[7] however it is likely a gas giant with surface temperatures around −100 to −70 °C (−150 to −94 °F).
Name
In the announcement paper, the discovery team stated: "Following the convention of Ref. 22,[8] we can denote the third body Kepler-16 (AB)-b, or simply “b” when there is no ambiguity."[2] It is listed as Kepler-16 (AB)-b on the SIMBAD Astronomical Database.[9] The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia lists it as Kepler-16 (AB) b.[10]
The Smithsonian Center has informally referred to Kepler-16b as "Tatooine", a reference to the fictional planet orbiting two suns that is a key setting in the Star Wars series.[5] "Again and again we see that the science is stranger and weirder than fiction" said John Knoll, a visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, who worked on several of the movies.[5]
Potential habitability
The habitable zone of the Kepler-16 system extends from approximately 55 to 106 million kilometers away from the twin stars. Kepler-16 b, with an orbit of about 104 million kilometers, lies near the outer edge of this habitable zone. Although the chances of life on the gas giant itself are remote, simulations conducted by researchers at the University of Texas suggest that sometime in the system's history, perturbations from other bodies could have caused an Earth-sized planet from the center of the habitable zone to migrate out of its orbit, allowing Kepler-16 b to capture it as its moon.[11] Furthermore, the researchers also considered the possibility of a faraway habitable planet orbiting at about 140 million kilometers away, which could retain the thermal energy needed to keep water liquid through a thick mixture of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide and methane.
References
- ^ Drake, Nadia. "On Kepler-16b, shadows come in pairs". Science News. Society for Science & the Public. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
discovery_articlewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "From Star Wars to science fact: Tatooine-like planet discovered". Smithsonian Science. The Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
- ^ a b Gold, Scott (2011-09-15). "Scientists find planet orbiting two suns like in 'Star Wars'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Overbye, Dennis (2011-09-15). "NASA Detects Planet Dancing With a Pair of Stars". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
- ^ Winn, Joshua N.; Albrecht, Simon; Johnson, John Asher; Torres, Guillermo; Cochran, William D.; Marcy, Geoffrey W.; Howard, Adnrew W.; Isaacson, Howard; Fischer, Debra (2011). "Spin-orbit alignment for the circumbinary planet host Kepler-16 A". arXiv:1109.3198v2.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ https://sites.google.com/a/upr.edu/planetary-habitability-laboratory-upra/library/notes/exoplanetscontinuouslywithinthehabitablezone
- ^ Hessman, F. V.; Dhillon, V. S.; Winget, D. E.; Schreiber, M. R.; Horne, K.; Marsh, T. R.; Guenther, E.; Schwope, A.; Heber, U. (2010). "On the naming convention used for multiple star systems and extrasolar planets". arXiv:1012.0707. Bibcode:2010arXiv1012.0707H.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Object query: Kepler-16b on the online SIMBAD Astronomical database [1]
- ^ Jean Schneider (2011). "Notes for Planet Kepler-16 (AB) b". Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
- ^ Jaggard, Victoria (January 9, 2012). ""Tatooine" Planet With Two Suns Could Host Habitable Moon?". National Geographic.
External links
