Hubble image archive
Kepler-413b Binary Star System
This illustration shows the unusual orbit of planet Kepler-413b around a close pair of orange and red dwarf stars. The planet's 66-day orbit is tilted 2.5 degrees with respect to the plane of the binary star's orbit. The orbit of the planet wobbles around the central stars over 1...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2014
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2014-12-3313-image
This illustration shows the unusual orbit of planet Kepler-413b around a close pair of orange and red dwarf stars. The planet's 66-day orbit is tilted 2.5 degrees with respect to the plane of the binary star's orbit. The orbit of the planet wobbles around the central stars over 11 years, an effect called precession. This planet is also very unusual in that it can potentially precess wildly on its spin axis, much like a child's top. The tilt of the spin axis of the planet can vary by as much as 30 degrees over 11 years, presumably leading to the rapid and erratic changes in seasons on the planet and any accompanying large moons. As Kepler views the system nearly edge on, sometimes the planet passes in front of the binary pair, and sometimes it does not. The next transit is not predicted to occur until 2020. This is due not only to the orbital wobble, but also to the small diameters of the stars and the fact that the orbital plane of the stars is not exactly edge-on to Kepler's line of sight. (The vertical axis on the right panel is exaggerated by a factor of 10, for viewing purposes only.)
Credits
Illustration: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI);Science: NASA, ESA, V. Kostov and P. McCullough (STScI and Johns Hopkins University), J. Carter (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), M. Deleuil and R. Diaz (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille), D. Fabrycky (University of Chicago), G. Hebrard (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris and Observatoire de Haute-Provence), T. Hinse (Armagh Observatory and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute), T. Mazeh (Tel Aviv University), J. Orosz (San Diego State University), Z. Tsvetanov (Johns Hopkins University), and W. Welsh (San Diego State University)
Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Kepler-413b |
| Object Description | Kepler Eclipsing Binary System |
| R.A. Position | 19h 14m 02s.55 |
| Dec. Position | +51° 09' 44".90 |
| Constellation | Cygnus |
| Distance | 2,300 light-years or 700 parsecs |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
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