OT/Discovery: Planet with 2 Suns

waves · 09-18-2011, 08:15 AM

you've all probably heard this by now but i thought it was worth a thread all the same. it's so cool.

Kepler 16b: NASA Discovers 'Star Wars'-Like Planet With Two Suns (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
THE HUFFINGTON POST - by TIMOTHY STENOVEC
First Posted: 9/15/11 07:23 PM ET

Quote:

The planet, which is 200 light years away and roughly the size of Saturn, is the first circumbinary planet -- meaning that it orbits two suns -- ever discovered, according to NASA.
...
Researchers say that Kepler 16b is composed of roughly half rock and half gas. The suns that the planet orbits are smaller -- and cooler -- than Earth's sun; one of the stars is about 69% the mass of the sun and the other is about 20%. According to The New York Times, one of the stars is orange, and the other is red, and the planet orbits both stars every 229 days.

NASA Detects Planet Dancing With a Pair of Stars
THENEW YORK TIMES - by DENNIS OVERBYE
Published: September 15, 2011

Quote:

From double sunrise to double sunset the show goes on, always changing.

Sometimes the orange sun rises first. Sometimes it is the red one, although they are never far apart in the sky and you can see them moving around each other, casting double shadows across the firmament and periodically crossing right in front of each other.

Such is life, if it were possible, on the latest addition to the pantheon of weird planets now known to exist outside the bounds of our own solar system. It is the first planet, astronomers say, that has been definitely shown to be orbiting two stars at once, circling the pair — which themselves orbit each other tightly — at a distance of some 65 million miles.

~ waves ~

bizi · 09-18-2011, 10:30 AM

this is really cool waves, had not heard this, thanks for sharing!

bizi

Just Jacquie · 09-18-2011, 10:43 AM

Hi waves, yeah, did you see the artist's rendering on the news? It looks so cool! This type of stuff always interested my husband and myself. To that end, I downloaded an app called 'GoSkyWatch' on my iPad 2. You don't have to be outside to do this, but what it does is neat --- When you hold the iP4d'ad up, with the screen facing you, it shows all the stars, constellations, etc, that are overhead, and if you hold it down, it actually shows you the ones that are below the earth. It's really neat to look at! i'm gonna try to take a picture of it with my cell phone and then upload it here if I can.

Hope you're having a nice Sunday!

waves · 09-18-2011, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just Jacquie

i'm gonna try to take a picture of it with my cell phone and then upload it here if I can.

oh THAT would be wonderful Jacquie!!! Thank you!

i looked at some of the videos and renderings on the web - that's all i have access to, technology wise. i try to avoid tv news, my mother found a snippet on this in a free local paper and gave me the page.

i hope you guys are having a good Sunday also. mine has been trying for the most part, but things are not as bad right now.

(((hugs)))

~ waves ~

Just Jacquie · 09-18-2011, 11:27 AM

I think I can pull it off!! We'll see......

Sorry for the differences in size, I'll try again later, but you get the idea!

Mari · 09-18-2011, 04:23 PM

Dear Waves,

That is pretty cool.

M

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