Kepler-421b: Transiting Exoplanet With Longest Known Year
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - 11:40
in Astronomy & Space
Kepler-421b has been revealed as a transiting exoplanet with the longest known year - 704 days. For comparison, Mars orbits our Sun once every 780 days. The farther a planet is from its star, the less likely it is to transit the star from Earth's point of view. It has to line up just right, and most of the 1,800-plus exoplanets discovered so far are much closer to their stars and have much shorter orbital periods. The host star, Kepler-421, is located about 1,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Lyra. read more