Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet

Details Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet

2011-09-15

arxiv.org/abs/1109.3432v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Science, in press; for supplemental material see http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2011/09/14/333.6049.1602.DC1/1210923.

Scientific paper

We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise constraints on the absolute dimensions of all three bodies. The planet is comparable to Saturn in mass and size, and is on a nearly circular 229-day orbit around its two parent stars. The eclipsing stars are 20% and 69% as massive as the sun, and have an eccentric 41-day orbit. The motions of all three bodies are confined to within 0.5 degree of a single plane, suggesting that the planet formed within a circumbinary disk.

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