Astronomers have discovered a new planet that bears an uncanny resemblance to Tatooine, the desert planet from the famous Star Wars movies. The planet is named BEBOP-1 c and here are all the details you need to know.
What is BEBOP-1c?
BEBOP-1c is named after a data collection project called Binaries Escorted by Orbiting Planets. Project BEBOP-1 is also known as TOI-1338.
It is a gas giant orbiting two stars. It is the second planet discovered in the BEBOP-1 system and the first planet discovered in a circulatory system within the habitable zone of its stars.
According to news published in the journal Nature Astronomy, “Periodic planets are planets that orbit both stars of a central binary system. They were once confined to science fiction, but the discovery of Kepler-16 b paved the way for the discovery of 14 transiting planets in 12 binary systems by the Kepler2 and Exoplanet Survey Satellite missions transition (TESS).
The first circumpolar planet was discovered in 2019 by NASA’s TESS mission and it was called TOI-1338b.
BEBOP-1c has about 65 times the mass of Earth and has an orbital period of 215 days and is the first orbiting planet with radio velocity and it can be used to explore other exoplanets.
David Martin, co-author of the study and NASA Sagan Fellow in astronomy at Ohio State University said: “When a planet orbits two stars, finding it can be a little more complicated because both of its stars are also moving through space.”
“So the way we can detect exoplanets of these stars and the way they form are both quite different,” he added.
There are currently only 12 binary systems known to have orbiting planets. The astronomers who made this new discovery were profiled in the journal Nature Astronomy. They hope that it marks progress in the way humans search for and detect exoplanets in these unique systems.
The majority of these exoplanets were discovered using the transit method. The journal Nature Astronomy reports “To increase the number of known periodic planets and to provide accurate masses for systems discovered using transit methods, we have initiated a dedicated radial velocity observation survey for the discovery of periodic planets known as binary planets escorted by orbiting planets (BEBOP).”
“Systems following BEBOP are on average four visual magnitudes brighter than periodic systems identified with Kepler. Radial velocities are less constrained at the more marginal and shorter orbital periods found using the transit method,” it added.
Source: Natural Astronomy
It is the first planet discovered in a binary system within the habitable zone of its stars.
This discovery suggests that ringed planets may be more common than previously thought, and that more ringed planets could be found by looking for them in the habitable zones of their stars.
Source: Natural Astronomy
In the image above, Nature magazine describes the color regions as follows:
- “The conservative habitable zone is represented by the dark blue zone
- The optimistic habitable zone is shown by the light blue zone.
- Binary stars are marked with a blue star symbol in the center.
- The red shaded region represents the unstable region around binary stars.”
In short, astronomers are excited about the possibility of life on BEBOP-1c. They are planning to continue studying the planet in an effort to learn more about its atmosphere, surface and potential for habitation. If life is found on BEBOP-1c, it would be a major discovery that would change our understanding of the universe.
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Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: pagasa.edu.vn