| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
‘Wobbly’ Alien Planet Has Weird Seasons And Orbits Two Stars
Diagram of Kepler-413b’s unusual orbit around red and orange dwarf stars. Its orbit “wobbles” or precesses around the stars every 11 years. Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)
We’re lucky to live on a planet where it’s predictably warmer in the summer and colder in the winter in many regions, at least within a certain range. On Kepler-413b, it’s a world where you’d have to check the forecast more frequently, because its axis swings by a wild 30 degrees every 11 years. On Earth, by comparison, it takes 26,000 years to tilt by a somewhat lesser amount (23.5 degrees).
(…)
Read the rest of ‘Wobbly’ Alien Planet Has Weird Seasons And Orbits Two Stars (333 words)
© Elizabeth Howell for Universe Today, 2014. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Post tags: kepler-413b, orange dwarf, red dwarf
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/108972/wobbly-alien-planet-has-weird-seasons-and-orbits-two-stars/
