Exoplanet with Four Suns Found

by Admin Tue Oct 16, 2012 9:31 am

Exoplanet with Four Suns Found

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Binary systems, with two stars orbiting each other, are quite
common in the universe. And many of these systems have planets around
them, it doesn't just happen in Star Wars. More complex systems are also
known to exist. But the more stars you add to the mix, the more
unstable the whole system is.

Still, a planet in a four-star system has now been discovered, and
that's not even the most interesting thing, it was discovered by
amateur astronomers over at the Planet Hunters website.

The planet's been named PH1, in honor of the site, and its existence has
been confirmed by Yale astronomers. The planet is a gas giant, about
the size of Uranus or Saturn, six times wider than the Earth.

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It sits only 5,000 light years away and orbits two of the four stars in the system.

Those two stars orbit each other, a blue one that is hotter, brighter
and about 1.5 times heavier than the Sun, the other red and small, about
0.41 as heavy as the Sun.

Two other stars orbit this system and orbit each other too, one similar
to the Sun, the other a smaller red one. Yes, it is hard to keep track
of it all. Astronomers are puzzled too and are now trying to figure out
how such a complex system can be stable.

"This is Planet Hunters’ ﬁrst conﬁrmed planet, and we subsequently refer
to the planet as PH1. The 6.18 ± 0.17 R⊕ planet orbits outside a 20-day
period eclipsing binary. Beyond the orbit of PH1, a distant visual
binary located at a projected distance of ∼1000 AU is bound to the
planetary system," the paper presenting the discovery read.

The paper was signed by Yale astronomers who confirmed the find and
studied the system further, but also by amateur astronomers from the
Planet Hunter site that first found it.</td></tr></table>

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