 An artist's rendering of the Kepler-16 system, showing the binary star being orbited by Kepler-16b (black body) | |
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Laurance Doyle |
| Discovery date | 15 September 2011 |
| Transit (Kepler Mission) | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| 0.7048 ± 0.0011 AU (105,440,000 ± 160,000 km) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0069 ± 0.0015 |
| 228.776 ± 0.037 d | |
| Inclination | 90.0322 ± 0.0023 |
| 0.003 ± 0.013 | |
| 106.51 ± 0.32 | |
| 318 ± 22 | |
| Star | Kepler-16 (KOI-1611) |
| Physical characteristics[1] | |
| 0.7538 (± 0.0025) RJ | |
| Mass | 0.333 (± 0.015) MJ |
Mean density | 0.964 (± 0.047) g cm−3 |
| 14.52 (± 0.7) m/s² | |
| Temperature | 188 K (−85 °C; −121 °F) |
Kepler-16b (formally Kepler-16 (AB)-b) is a Saturn-mass exoplanet consisting of half gas and half rock and ice.[2] It orbits a binary star, Kepler-16, with a period of 229 days.[1] "[It] is the first confirmed, unambiguous example of a circumbinary planet – a planet orbiting not one, but two stars," said Josh Carter of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, one of the discovery team.[3]
Kepler-16b is also unusual in that it falls inside the radius that was thought to be the inner limit for planet formation in a binary star system.[4] According to Sara Seager, a planetary expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it was thought that for a planet to have a stable orbit around such a system, it would need to be at least seven times as far from the stars as the stars are from each other.[4] Kepler-16b's orbit is only about half that distance.[4]
Kepler-16b orbits near the outer edge of the habitable zone,[5] but it is a gas giant with surface temperatures around −100 to −70 °C (−150 to −94 °F).
- ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference
discovery_articlewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
scienceNewswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "From Star Wars to science fact: Tatooine-like planet discovered". Smithsonian Science. The Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 24 September 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
nyTimeswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Exoplanets Continuously Within the Habitable Zone - Planetary Habitability Laboratory @ UPR Arecibo". sites.google.com. Archived from the original on 2014-01-10.