Star Wars-like planet orbiting two suns discovered

planets

The planet named Kepler-16b, will have an extraordinary double sunset at the end of each day.

Astronomers discover a real-life Tatooine. A spectacle made popular by the “Star Wars” saga — a planet with two suns — has now been confirmed in space for the first time, astronomers revealed.

 

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First Potentially Habitable Exoplanet Found

planet

Gliese 581 and its exoplanets are only 20 light years away.

One of our own solar system’s closest neighboring stars and a regular point of exoplanetary interest, the red dwarf Gliese 581, can finally claim the title of owning the first confirmed potentially-habitable expolanet. French researchers running complex computer models have demonstrated that the planet Gliese 581d–once thought too cold to sustain life–indeed could possess the proper ingredients to sustain liquid water and an atmosphere.

 

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Underground Telescope Could Give Scientists First Glimpse of the Dawn of the Universe

hubble-galaxy

Scientists could get their first glimpse of the dawn of the universe from a telescope buried up to half a mile underground.  This new device is designed to detect gravitational waves.  Gravitational waves are an elusive phenomena created by some of the most violent events in the universe such as black holes, neutron stars and the Big Bang.

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Astronomers Find There Are 3 Times More Stars in the Universe Than Previously Thought

red dwarf

Red dwarf stars make up 80% of the stars in the universe.

Red dwarf stars are far more common than astronomers have believed — in fact, they may make up 80 percent of the star population, scientists said in a study on Wednesday that triples the number of stars in the universe.

 

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Season’s Discovered on Neptune’s Moon Triton

Triton moon 342
Neptune’s largest moon Triton undergoes seasonal variations just like the Earth and is presently experiencing summer in its southern hemisphere, astronomers have found.

In a first-ever infrared analysis of Triton’s atmosphere with the help of ESO’s Very Large Telescope, the researchers have found presence of frozen nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane on the moon’s thin surface which turn into gas as the southern hemisphere warms up by the Sun. The thin, icy atmosphere then thickens as the season advances during Neptune’s 165-year orbit around the Sun.

“We have found real evidence that the Sun still makes its presence felt on Triton, even from so far away. This icy moon actually has seasons just as we do on Earth, but they change far more slowly,” said Emmanuel Lellouch, lead author of the paper reporting the results in Astronomy & Astrophysics journal.

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