'Tatooine-like' exoplanet spotted by ground-based telescope

Date:
February 23, 2022
Source:
University of Birmingham
Summary:
A rare exoplanet which orbits around two stars at once has been
detected using a ground-based telescope. The planet, called
Kepler-16b, has so far only been seen using the Kepler space
telescope. It orbits around two stars, with the two orbits also
orbiting one another, forming a binary star system.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A rare exoplanet which orbits around two stars at once has been detected
using a ground-based telescope by a team led by the University of
Birmingham.


==========================================================================
The planet, called Kepler-16b, has so far only been seen using the
Kepler space telescope. It orbits around two stars, with the two orbits
also orbiting one another, forming a binary star system. Kepler-16b is
located some 245 light years from Earth and, like Luke Skywalker's home
planet of Tatooine, in the Star Wars universe, it would have two sunsets
if you could stand on its surface.

The 193cm telescope used in the new observation is based at the
Observatoire de Haute-Provence, in France. The team were able to detect
the planet using the radial velocity method, in which astronomers observe
a change in the velocity of a star as a planet orbits about it.

The detection of Kepler-16b using the radial velocity method is an
important demonstration that it is possible to detect circumbinary
planets using more traditional methods, at greater efficiency and lower
cost than by using spacecrafts.

Importantly the radial velocity method is also more sensitive to
additional planets in a system, and it can also measure the mass of a
planet -- its most fundamental property.

Having demonstrated the method using Kepler-16b, the team plans to
continue the search for previously unknown circumbinary planets and help
answer questions about how planets are formed. Usually, planets formation
is thought to take place within a protoplanetary disc -- a mass of dust
and gas which surrounds a young star. However, this process may not be
possible within a circumbinary system.

Professor Amaury Triaud, from the University of Birmingham, who led
the team, explains: "Using this standard explanation it is difficult
to understand how circumbinary planets can exist. That's because the
presence of two stars interferes with the protoplanetary disc, and this prevents dust from agglomerating into planets, a process called accretion.

"The planet may have formed far from the two stars, where their influence
is weaker, and then moved inwards in a process called disc-driven
migration -- or, alternatively, we may find we need to revise our
understanding of the process of planetary accretion." Dr David Martin,
from the Ohio State University (USA), who contributed to the discovery, explains "Circumbinary planets provide one of the clearest clues
that disc-driven migration is a viable process, and that it happens
regularly." Dr Alexandre Santerne, from the University of Marseille, a collaborator on the research explains: "Kepler-16b was first discovered
10 years ago by NASA's Kepler satellite using the transit method. This
system was the most unexpected discovery made by Kepler. We chose to
turn our telescope and recover Kepler-16 to demonstrate the validity
of our radial-velocity methods." Dr Isabelle Boisse, also from the
University of Marseille, is the scientist in charge of the SOPHIE
instrument that was used to collect the data. She said: "Our discovery
shows how ground-based telescopes remain entirely relevant to modern
exoplanet research and can be used for exciting new projects. Having
shown we can detect Kepler-16b, we will now analyse data taken on many
other binary star systems, and search for new circumbinary planets." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Birmingham. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Amaury H M J Triaud, Matthew R Standing, Neda Heidari, David
V Martin,
Isabelle Boisse, Alexandre Santerne, Alexandre C M Correia,
Lorena Acun~a, Matthew Battley, Xavier Bonfils, Andre's Carmona,
Andrew Collier Cameron, Pi'a Corte's-Zuleta, Georgina Dransfield,
Shweta Dalal, Magali Deleuil, Xavier Delfosse, Joa~o Faria,
Thierry Forveille, Nathan C Hara, Guillaume He'brard, Sergio
Hoyer, Flavien Kiefer, Vedad Kunovac, Pierre F L Maxted, Eder
Martioli, Nicola J Miller, Richard P Nelson, Mathilde Poveda,
Hanno Rein, Lalitha Sairam, Ste'phane Udry, Emma Willett. BEBOP
III. Observations and an independent mass measurement of Kepler-16
(AB) b - the first circumbinary planet detected with radial
velocities. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
2022; 511 (3): 3561 DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab3712 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220223085820.htm

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