{"id":94695,"date":"2019-04-16T08:54:59","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T18:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=94695"},"modified":"2020-01-22T13:25:24","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T23:25:24","slug":"uh-astronomers-planet-prediction-verified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/04\/16\/uh-astronomers-planet-prediction-verified\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> astronomer\u2019s planet prediction verified in Star Wars-like system"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Artist’s rendition of the Kepler-47 circumbinary planet system with its three planets. Image courtesy of NASA\/JPL<\/abbr>-Caltech\/T. Pyle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A team of astronomers, including one from the Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (IfA<\/abbr>) at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa, discovered a third planet in the circumbinary planetary system Kepler-47<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This discovery cements the system’s title as the most interesting of the binary-star worlds, and marks the first complete planetary system around a binary star. Circumbinary planets are those that orbit both stars of a binary star system, like Tatooine in the Star Wars<\/em> films.<\/p>\n

“In 2015, we predicted the existence of a third planet in this system on dynamical grounds. It is great to see reality matches our prediction,” said Nader Haghighipour<\/strong>, astronomer with IfA<\/abbr>. <\/p>\n

With its three planets orbiting two stars, Kepler-47 is the only known multi-planet circumbinary system. The orbit of the outer planet of this system falls well within the binary’s habitable zone, the region where an Earth-like planet could maintain liquid water on its surface.<\/p>\n