Astronomers have discovered an unusual planet that they called the initials PHI. Called unusual because it is the first planet known to have four stars. This unique planet circling a pair of stars that orbit each other mutually, then orbiting the other pair of stars. It makes PHI has two stars for more than Tatooine, the fictional planet that exist in space fiction epic, Star Wars.
Signs of PHI was first noticed by volunteers through planethunters.org makes independent scientists reviewed data from NASA's Kepler telescope. The astronomers then followed up by observations from the Keck Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii to confirm the planet's existence, PHI believed to be a gas giant with a radius of six times larger than the Earth which makes it larger than Neptune.
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| In this family portrait of the PH1 planetary system, the newly discovered planet is depicted in this artist's rendition transiting the larger of the two eclipsing stars it orbits. Off in the distance, well beyond the planet orbit, resides a second pair of stars bound to the planetary system. (Picture from: http://www.space.com/) |
The planet is orbiting a pair of star every 138 days (in which one star larger than the sun and the other is smaller). Far beyond it, at a distance of about 100 billion kilometers, about 1,000 times the distance between Earth and the Sun, the second pair of star orbiting the first.
Four star system like this is not unusual, but this is the first time astronomers have discovered a planet in a star system like this. "The discovery of these two systems force us to retreat back to the desk research to understand how such planets could be created and live in a dynamic environment is challenging," said Meg Schwamb of Yale University. She led the research which was presented at the annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences at the American Astronomical Society held on October 15, 2012 in Reno, Nevada. *** [NEW SCIENTIST | SRI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 25102012]
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