An international team of astronomers has made an intriguing discovery: a new multiplanet system that resembles the one orbited by the fictional planet Tatooine, from Star Wars.
The planet, called BEBOP-1c, orbits two twin stars, reminiscent of the iconic image of Luke Skywalker's home planet.
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This discovery marks the second multiplanet circumbinary system on record, unlike most solar systems where planets orbit only one star.
With a mass 65 times that of Earth and an orbital period of 215 days, this planet orbits two stars, unlike most known solar systems.
Rosemary Mardling, co-author of the study by researchers at the University of Birmingham and the School of Physics and Astronomy at Monash University, highlighted that the discovery of BEBOP-1c has the potential to provide insights into the formation planetary.
She explained that the planet is in a very close position to the two stars, with an orbital period about 6.5 times longer than that of the binary system.
Mardling emphasized that if it were even closer, BEBOP-1c would be ejected from the system due to the intense gravitational pull exerted by the pair of stars.
The discovery of a Star Wars-like planet
Using the Doppler method, the researchers tracked the Tatooine-like planet by measuring the velocity of the stars involved.
For this purpose, two telescopes were installed in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Although their initial intention was to measure the mass of TOI-1338b, they were able to obtain accurate measurements for BEBOP-1c.
Although the mass of TOI-1338b has yet to be determined, the discovery of BEBOP-1c has contributed to our knowledge of circumbinary planets.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, telescopes monitoring the planet's orbit around its two parent stars were shut down for six months. This resulted in a gap in the planet's orbit records.
Recently, the researchers resumed their observations and are now planning to measure the size of the BEBOP-1C as part of its ongoing efforts to learn more about this planetary system single.
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