Space probe detects a planet with a double sunset
(Reuters) - When the day ends on planet Kepler-16b there is a double sunset, scientists reported on Thursday in the journal Science.
In a scene reminiscent of science fiction, researchers using observations from NASA's Kepler spacecraft have detected a distant planet orbiting two waltzing stars, the first time such a phenomenon has been confirmed.
Kepler-16b is similar to Jupiter in size and mass, a cold gas giant that orbits its two suns every 229 days at a distance of 65 million miles (104.6 million km). That is roughly the same distance as Venus' orbit, compared to Earth's 365-day orbit around the sun at a distance of about 93 million miles (149.7 million km).
(Reuters) - When the day ends on planet Kepler-16b there is a double sunset, scientists reported on Thursday in the journal Science.
In a scene reminiscent of science fiction, researchers using observations from NASA's Kepler spacecraft have detected a distant planet orbiting two waltzing stars, the first time such a phenomenon has been confirmed.
Kepler-16b is similar to Jupiter in size and mass, a cold gas giant that orbits its two suns every 229 days at a distance of 65 million miles (104.6 million km). That is roughly the same distance as Venus' orbit, compared to Earth's 365-day orbit around the sun at a distance of about 93 million miles (149.7 million km).
This newly detected planet is 200 light-years from Earth and is not thought to harbor life. A light-year is about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion km), the distance light travels in a year.
