1/15/2012

"Tatooine" Planet With Two Suns Could Host Habitable Moon?

A new planet found last fall may be orbiting two stars, but it's far from a real-life Tatooine. Dubbed Kepler-16b, the world is a cold, Saturn-size gas giant with little chance of hosting desert farmers like the fictional Star Wars world.
But according to new computer simulations, the Kepler-16 stars may still shine on a world fit for life—a hypothetical Earthlike moon orbiting Kepler-16b.
Kepler-16b was discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft, which looks for dips in starlight as a planet transits—or passes in front of—a star, as seen from Earth.
With a roughly circular orbit about 65 million miles from the stars, the Saturn-like planet is on the outer edge of this main habitable zone. And while this "Tatooine" is uninhabitable, an Earthlike moon in Kepler-16b's orbit could sustain life, according to researchers.

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