The Transiting Circumbinary Planets Kepler-34 and Kepler-35

Details The Transiting Circumbinary Planets Kepler-34 and Kepler-35 The Transiting Circumbinary Planets Kepler-34 and Kepler-35

2012-04-18

arxiv.org/abs/1204.3955v1

Nature, Volume 481, Issue 7382, pp. 475-479 (2012)

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Accepted and published in Nature (2012 Jan 26). This is the submitted version of paper, merged with the Supplementary Informat

Scientific paper

10.1038/nature10768

Most Sun-like stars in the Galaxy reside in gravitationally-bound pairs of stars called "binary stars". While long anticipated, the existence of a "circumbinary planet" orbiting such a pair of normal stars was not definitively established until the discovery of Kepler-16. Incontrovertible evidence was provided by the miniature eclipses ("transits") of the stars by the planet. However, questions remain about the prevalence of circumbinary planets and their range of orbital and physical properties. Here we present two additional transiting circumbinary planets, Kepler-34 and Kepler-35. Each is a low-density gas giant planet on an orbit closely aligned with that of its parent stars. Kepler-34 orbits two Sun-like stars every 289 days, while Kepler-35 orbits a pair of smaller stars (89% and 81% of the Sun's mass) every 131 days. Due to the orbital motion of the stars, the planets experience large multi-periodic variations in incident stellar radiation. The observed rate of circumbinary planets implies > ~1% of close binary stars have giant planets in nearly coplanar orbits, yielding a Galactic population of at least several million.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The Transiting Circumbinary Planets Kepler-34 and Kepler-35 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Transiting Circumbinary Planets Kepler-34 and Kepler-35, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Transiting Circumbinary Planets Kepler-34 and Kepler-35 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-410877