Kepler-16: a transiting circumbinary planet - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2011 Sep 16;333(6049):1602-6.

doi: 10.1126/science.1210923.

Joshua A Carter, Daniel C Fabrycky, Robert W Slawson, Steve B Howell, Joshua N Winn, Jerome A Orosz, Andrej Prša, William F Welsh, Samuel N Quinn, David Latham, Guillermo Torres, Lars A Buchhave, Geoffrey W Marcy, Jonathan J Fortney, Avi Shporer, Eric B Ford, Jack J Lissauer, Darin Ragozzine, Michael Rucker, Natalie Batalha, Jon M Jenkins, William J Borucki, David Koch, Christopher K Middour, Jennifer R Hall, Sean McCauliff, Michael N Fanelli, Elisa V Quintana, Matthew J Holman, Douglas A Caldwell, Martin Still, Robert P Stefanik, Warren R Brown, Gilbert A Esquerdo, Sumin Tang, Gabor Furesz, John C Geary, Perry Berlind, Michael L Calkins, Donald R Short, Jason H Steffen, Dimitar Sasselov, Edward W Dunham, William D Cochran, Alan Boss, Michael R Haas, Derek Buzasi, Debra Fischer

Affiliations

Kepler-16: a transiting circumbinary planet

Laurance R Doyle et al. Science. 2011.

Abstract

We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise constraints on the absolute dimensions of all three bodies. The planet is comparable to Saturn in mass and size and is on a nearly circular 229-day orbit around its two parent stars. The eclipsing stars are 20 and 69% as massive as the Sun and have an eccentric 41-day orbit. The motions of all three bodies are confined to within 0.5° of a single plane, suggesting that the planet formed within a circumbinary disk.

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