This illustration shows the unusual orbit of planet Kepler-413b around a close pair of orange and red dwarf stars. The planet's 66-day orbit is tilted 2.5 degrees with respect to the plane of the binary star's orbit. The orbit of the planet wobbles around the central stars over 11 years, an effect called precession. This planet is also very unusual in that it can potentially precess wildly on its spin axis, much like a child's top. The tilt of the spin axis of the planet can vary by as much as 30 degrees over 11 years, presumably leading to the rapid and erratic changes in seasons on the planet and any accompanying large moons. As Kepler views the system nearly edge on, sometimes the planet passes in front of the binary pair, and sometimes it does not. The next transit is not predicted to occur until 2020. This is due not only to the orbital wobble, but also to the small diameters of the stars and the fact that the orbital plane of the stars is not exactly edge-on to Kepler's line of sight. (The vertical axis on the right panel is exaggerated by a factor of 10, for viewing purposes only.)
Credits
Illustration: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI);Science: NASA, ESA, V. Kostov and P. McCullough (STScI and Johns Hopkins University), J. Carter (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), M. Deleuil and R. Diaz (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille), D. Fabrycky (University of Chicago), G. Hebrard (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris and Observatoire de Haute-Provence), T. Hinse (Armagh Observatory and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute), T. Mazeh (Tel Aviv University), J. Orosz (San Diego State University), Z. Tsvetanov (Johns Hopkins University), and W. Welsh (San Diego State University)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Kepler-413b |
| Object Description | Kepler Eclipsing Binary System |
| R.A. Position | 19h 14m 02s.55 |
| Dec. Position | +51° 09' 44".90 |
| Constellation | Cygnus |
| Distance | 2,300 light-years or 700 parsecs |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
