A World with 3 Suns Discovered by Nasa Scientist
A NASA-funded astronomer has discovered a world where the sun sets over the horizon, followed by a second sun and then a third. The new planet, called HD 188753 Ab, is the first known to reside in a classic triple-star system.
It orbits a Sun-like star, which also has two other stars in its gravitational embrace. So the planet, its mass slightly greater than Jupiter’s, experiences the unearthly spectacles of multiple sunrises and sunsets. Its main sun, bright yellow, hovers close by. The two others, a larger orange one and a smaller red one, pirouette around each other in an orbit comparable to the distance between Saturn and our Sun.
Maciej Konacki (MATCH-ee Konn-ATZ-kee) of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif., discovered the triple-star system using the Keck I telescope atop Mauna Kea Mountain in Hawaii. "Before now, we had no clues about whether planets could form in such gravitationally complex systems," he said. "The sky view from this planet would be spectacular, with an occasional triple sunset."
In the artist’s rendering, sunset is seen through the atmosphere of a hot, baked hypothetical moon. As the suns dip below the horizon, the gas giant comes into view. The moon’s landscape remains illuminated by sunlight reflected off the planet. Both the planet and moon would be so hot that even in shadow their surfaces would glow.
The three stars are about 149 lightyears from Earth, and are about as close to one another as the distance between the Sun and Saturn. "With three suns, the sky view must be out of this world-literally and figuratively," Konacki mused.
"The environment in which this planet exists is quite spectacular," he added, referring to it as a "Tatooine" planet -- because of the similarity to the dramatic view Luke Skywalker had of the dusk sky from his home planet in the first Star Wars movie.
