For only the second time, astronomers have discovered a multiple-planet system orbiting two stars.
The BEBOP-1c planet was discovered by a team from the University of Birmingham.
It is part of a multiple-planet orbiting binary star system, the catchy name for a system containing planets orbiting a central two stars.
star wars Provides an apt point of comparison (honestly) – while there is only one sun in the sky above our planet because there is only one sun in our solar system, the fictional desert world of Tatooine has two.
In fact, the university itself describes the newly discovered system as “Tatooine-like.”
Still, BEBOP-1c’s name suggests more of a robot than a planet. It’s named after the project that collected the data, BEBOP, which stands for Binary Planet Escorted by Orbiting Planet.
The BEBOP-1 system is also known as TOI-1338.
How did astronomers discover this planet?
The team is already monitoring the BEPOP-1 system using Doppler or wobble methods.
That’s when researchers used space telescopes to measure the velocities of stars and have previously been used to spot other planets outside our solar system.
Already in 2020, astronomers discovered a planet in the BEPOP-1 system using NASA’s TESS telescope.
It was while measuring the first planet using the wobble method that the second planet was discovered.
Astronomer David Martin said: “There are only 12 known orbiting binary star systems, and this is only the second to have more than one planet.”
The new planet orbits in 215 days and has a mass 65 times that of Earth.
However, its actual size is still a mystery and needs further research.
Astronomers are also not ruling out the possibility of finding a third planet in the same system.
The discovery of BEBOP-1c was published in the journal Nature Astronomy.