'Tatooine-like' exoplanet spotted by ground-based telescope

A ground-based telescope has been used by a team led by the University of Birmingham to find a rare exoplanet.

The planet has been seen using the space telescope. It formed a star system with two stars and one being in the middle of the system. If you could stand on its surface, it would have two sunsets like Tatooine in the Star Wars universe.

The telescope used in the new observation is based in France. The team was able to detect the planet using the radial velocity method, in which they observe a change in the velocity of a star as a planet moves around it.

It is possible to detect circumbinary planets using more traditional methods at greater efficiency and lower cost than by using spacecrafts, as demonstrated by the detection of Kepler-16b using the radial velocity method.

The mass of a planet is the most fundamental property of a planet, and the radial velocity method can measure it.

The team plans to continue the search for previously unknown circumbinary planets and answer questions about how planets are formed. A mass of dust and gas surrounds a young star, which is usually where planets formation takes place. This process may not be possible within a circumbinary system.

It is difficult to understand how circumbinary planets can exist, according to Professor Amaury Triaud from the University of Birmingham. The presence of two stars prevents dust from agglomerating into planets, a process called accretion.

The planet may have formed far from the two stars, where their influence is weaker, and then moved inwards in a process called disc-driven migration.

One of the clearest clues that disc-driven migration is a viable process is provided by Dr. David Martin, from the Ohio State University.

The discovery of Kepler-16b was first made 10 years ago by NASA's Kepler satellite using the transit method. The most unexpected discovery was this system. We turned our telescope to show the validity of our radial-velocity methods.

Dr. Boisse is the scientist in charge of the SOPHIE instrument that was used to collect the data. She said that the discovery shows how ground-based telescopes can be used for exciting new projects. We have shown that we can detect the planet Kepler-16b, so we will now look for new planets.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society contains the research.

More information: BEBOP III. Observations and an independent mass measurement of Kepler-16 (AB) b – the first circumbinary planet detected with radial velocities, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab3712 Journal information: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Citation: 'Tatooine-like' exoplanet spotted by ground-based telescope (2022, February 23) retrieved 23 February 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-02-tatooine-like-exoplanet-ground-based-telescope.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.