The fact that a Binary star system has two stars those are orbiting around the common barycenter is known to the world. Recently, astronomers have found the third planet orbiting Kepler-47 binary system. Kepler-47 is the only binary star system that has two suns and three planets. The astronomers have identified the star system with multiple planets on the 16th of April. The recent discovery by the astronomers was published in the Astronomical Journal this week. The newly discovered third planet’s signal was weak, so it was hard to identify. The transit of two planets has been identified previously by the scientists already.
The new data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope help the researchers identify the new planet in the path of binary stars. Through the Kepler space telescope, scientists can isolate the dimming due to a newly discovered exoplanet. Jerome Orosz, the lead author of the study, is an astronomer in San Diego State University. The hint of the existence of a third planet was seen back in 2012, bur scientist doesn’t have enough data to confirm the fact, says Jerome Orosz. The recently discovered new planet’s orbital plane is aligned with its two suns and earth. That increases the third planet’s transmit signal. The transit data by collected through NASA’s Kepler space telescope suggests, the third planet- Kepler-47d is the most massive exoplanet of the three. The size of the third planet might be in between the size of Saturn and Neptune.
The planets of Kepler-47 star system have intimate orbits, in every 7.45 days; the two suns orbit each other. The planets in the network have low densities. So the planets and the suns are not hot. It is believed that the entire system can fit within the earth’s orbit. The Saturn sized new planet is orbiting between the planets those are previously known in the Kepler-47 binary star system. Binary stars are more common than the stars like the sun (solo stars). So multiple planets can be hosted by binary star systems is significant.
The scientists can uncover the transits in the data. The additional transit can determine the new planet’s orbital period, says Jerome Orosz. The size of the new exoplanet has surprised the scientists as it is the largest one among the three planets of the binary star system. The transit depth of the three planets goes from unidentified to study in deepest in just four years. The Kepler mission started four years ago. Although the hint of the third planet was received in the year 2012, due to the weak signal and shortage of enough data, scientists could not confirm the existence.
The discovery has amazed the scientists. The different characteristics of the newly discovered planet in the system Kepler-47 are to be studied. By this discovery, scientists can understand the binary start system better. The planets of the star system have low density, so the temperatiu6re is mild at the binary star system.