Scientists have discovered a New Planet with Triple Star system with a gas giant planet similar to Jupiter in size. Researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in U.S recently found that an exoplanet in a stable orbit around a star, occupying a triple star system.
Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
When it was known that the planet has 3 stars which is also called as three suns, this new found makes a new history for the first time that first planet to have 3 stars serving as its sun, instead of one.
About the Triple Star System
The system consists of three stars named –
- KELT-4A
- KELT-4B
- KELT-4C
Out of this, KELT-4A is a main bright star and other two stars are binary pairs which are combinedly known as KELT-4BC. The scientists are already aware of the existence of KELT system, but they thought binary stars are actually single star.
Telescopes on 2 different countries South Africa and Arizona which are controlled robotically helped the scientists to identify that they were the binary system. KELT actually stands for Kilo degree Extremely Little Telescope.
After the discovery of the triple star system, now the scientists are trying to understand how KELT-4AB manage to orbit so close to their stars. Surprisingly, KELT-4AB is not the only planet in our universe with 3 suns.
Source: http://phys.org/news/2016-04-planet-triple-star.html
There is no doubt that this is going to be one of the greatest milestones in the space discoveries.
Stay tuned for more updates from NASA.