Hobby-Eberly Telescope measures two stars with one orbiting planet
Monday, June 4, 2012 - 04:50
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org) -- A team of Penn State University astronomers has obtained very precise measurements of a pair of stars that are orbited by a planet -- like the stellar system of the fictional planet Tatooine in the movie Star Wars. The orbits of the stars and planet in the system, named Kepler-16, are aligned so that they eclipse or transit each other when observed from Earth. These new measurements will aid astronomers in understanding how stars and planetary systems form.