Astronomers using data from NASAs Kepler space telescope have discovered two new planets in the Kepler-160 planetary system. One of the new planets is the super-Earth-sized transiting world in the host stars habitable zone.<\/p>\n
An artists impression of a four-planet system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.<\/p>\n
Kepler-160 is a Sun-like star located 3,141 light-years away in the constellation of Lyra.<\/p>\n
Also known as KOI-456 and KIC 7269974, the star is 1.12 times bigger than our Sun and is just 1% more luminous.<\/p>\n
In 2010, astronomers detected two massive transiting planets, Kepler-160b and c, in very close orbits around the star.<\/p>\n
Kepler-160b has a radius of 1.7 times that of the Earth and is in a 4.3-day orbit, while Kepler-160c, with a radius of about 3.1 Earth radii, orbits the star with a period of 13.7 days.<\/p>\n
Their surface temperatures would certainly make them hotter than a baking oven and everything but hospitable for life as we know it, said Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research astronomer Ren Heller and colleagues.<\/p>\n
But tiny variations in the orbital period of planet Kepler-160c gave scientists a signature of a third planet that had yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n
In the new study, Dr. Heller and co-authors analyzed archival data from the Kepler space telescope.<\/p>\n
Our analysis suggests that Kepler-160 is orbited not by two but by a total of four planets, Dr. Heller said.<\/p>\n
One of the two planets that we found is Kepler-160d, the previously suspected planet responsible for the distorted orbit of Kepler-160c.<\/p>\n
Kepler-160d is a non-transiting planet with a mass higher than Earths and an orbital period between about 5 and 50 days.<\/p>\n
The fourth planet in the system, Kepler-160e (also designated KOI-456.04), is probably a transiting planet with a radius of 1.9 times that of the Earth and an orbital period of 378 days.<\/p>\n
Given its Sun-like host star, the very Earth-like orbital period results in a very Earth-like insolation from the star both in terms of the amount of the light received and in terms of the light color, Dr. Heller said.<\/p>\n
All things considered, Kepler-160e sits in a region of the habitable zone that is comparable to the Earths position around the Sun.<\/p>\n
Kepler-160e is relatively large compared to many other planets that are considered potentially habitable, he said.<\/p>\n
But its the combination of this less-than-double the size of the Earth planet and its solar type host star that make it so special and familiar.<\/p>\n
If Kepler-160e has a mostly inert atmosphere with a mild Earth-like greenhouse effect, then its surface temperature would be 5 degrees Celsius on average, which is about 10 degrees lower than the Earths mean global temperature.<\/p>\n
The discovery is described in paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.<\/p>\n
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Ren Heller et al. 2020. Transit least-squares survey III. A 1.9 R transit candidate in the habitable zone of Kepler-160 and a nontransiting planet characterized by transit-timing variations. A&A 638, A10; doi: 10.1051\/0004-6361\/201936929<\/p>\n
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Sun-Like Star Kepler-160 Has Super-Earth in Habitable Zone | Astronomy - Sci-News.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Astronomers using data from NASAs Kepler space telescope have discovered two new planets in the Kepler-160 planetary system. One of the new planets is the super-Earth-sized transiting world in the host stars habitable zone. An artists impression of a four-planet system Continue reading