Esta concepção artística mostra Kepler-36c como ele talvez se pareça visto da superfície de seu vizinho Kepler-36b.
Astrônomos descobriram um par de planetas vizinhos com densidades diferentes orbitando muito próximos um ao outro. Os planetas estão muito próximos de sua estrela para estarem na chamada "zona habitável," a região em um sistema estelar onde água líquida pode existir na superfície, mas eles têm as órbitas mais próximas entre dois planetas já confirmadas.
Os pesquisadores usaram dados to telescópio espacial Kepler, que mede oscilações no brilho de mais de 150.000 estrelas, em busca de planetas.
O planeta mais interior, Kepler-36b, orbita sua estrela-mãe a cada 13.8 dias, e o mais externo, Kepler-36c, a cada 16,2 dias. Em sua maior aproximação, a dupla de vizinhos chega a cerca de 1,9 milhão de quilômetros um do outro. Isso equivale a apenas cinco vezes a distância Terra-Lua e eles estão cerca de 20 vezes mais próximos um do outro que quaisquer outros dois planetas de nosso sistema solar.
Kepler-36b é um mundo rochoso com 1,5 vez o raio e 4,5 vezes a massa da Terra. Kepler-36c é um gigante gasoso com 3,7 vezes o raio e oito vezes a massa da Terra. A estranha dupla planetária orbita uma estrela levemente mais quente, e alguns bilhões de anos mais velha, que o Sol. Os planetas estão localizados a 1.200 anos-luz da Terra.
This artist's conception shows Kepler-36c as
it might look from the surface of neighboring Kepler-36b.
Astronomers have discovered a pair of neighboring planets with dissimilar densities orbiting very close to each other. The planets are too close to their star to be in the so-called "habitable zone," the region in a star system where liquid water might exist on the surface, but they have the closest orbits between two planets ever confirmed. The findings appear today in the journal Science.
The research team used data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, which measures dips in the brightness of more than 150,000 stars, to search for planets.
The inner planet, Kepler-36b, orbits its host star every 13.8 days, and the outer planet, Kepler-36c, every 16.2 days. On their closest approach, the neighboring duo comes within about 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) of each other. This is only five times the Earth-moon distance and about 20 times closer to each other than any two planets in our solar system.
Kepler-36b is a rocky world measuring 1.5 times the radius, and 4.5 times the mass, of Earth. Kepler-36c is a gaseous giant measuring 3.7 times the radius, and eight times the mass, of Earth. The planetary odd couple orbits a star slightly hotter, and a couple of billion years older, than our sun. The planets are located 1,200 light-years from Earth.
Astronomers have discovered a pair of neighboring planets with dissimilar densities orbiting very close to each other. The planets are too close to their star to be in the so-called "habitable zone," the region in a star system where liquid water might exist on the surface, but they have the closest orbits between two planets ever confirmed. The findings appear today in the journal Science.
The research team used data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, which measures dips in the brightness of more than 150,000 stars, to search for planets.
The inner planet, Kepler-36b, orbits its host star every 13.8 days, and the outer planet, Kepler-36c, every 16.2 days. On their closest approach, the neighboring duo comes within about 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) of each other. This is only five times the Earth-moon distance and about 20 times closer to each other than any two planets in our solar system.
Kepler-36b is a rocky world measuring 1.5 times the radius, and 4.5 times the mass, of Earth. Kepler-36c is a gaseous giant measuring 3.7 times the radius, and eight times the mass, of Earth. The planetary odd couple orbits a star slightly hotter, and a couple of billion years older, than our sun. The planets are located 1,200 light-years from Earth.
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