Now this is cool. (Or, as regards the planet, hot…)
Polish astrophysicist Maciej Konacki has made a revolutionary discovery he believes could send modern astronomy spinning in a new direction — the first ever planet with three suns….
Konacki’s unique planet, which is similar to the gaseous Jupiter, lies in a constellation of three stars identified as HD188753, some 149 light years from Earth.
The largest of the three suns dwarfs ours. The two smaller stars orbit it once every 26 years and each other once every 156 days.
Konacki’s planet orbits the largest of the three suns with astonishing speed — once every 3.3 days — meaning its year is incredibly brief.
Temperatures on the planet’s surface reach 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Wow…
The CNN version of this story adds an interesting detail:
Caltech astronomer Maciej Konacki, who wrote the research article, refers to the new type of planets as “Tatooine planets,” because of the similarity to Luke Skywalker’s view of his home planet by the same name, with its multiple suns, in the original “Star Wars” film.”
Heh heh.
(JPL’s more detailed article also has animations of the system.)
