Even those who have never watched the Star Wars franchise have certainly heard of this series that attracts a multitude of fans worldwide. But something that only true fans of the saga know is that the star wars planet, Tattoine, has a real version. In this case, it is Kepler-16b, which, as in the series, is in the orbit of two stars more than 200 light years from Earth.
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Discover the history of Kepler-16b
The first time Kepler-16b was seen was in 2011, through a probe that allows scientists to see a star in the system dim. This is the "transit method", responsible for sighting the real version of the planet of Tattoine, which is in the constellation of Cygnus, during the Kepler mission.
Thus, the transit method works with the idea that the dimming of a star is the consequence of the passage of a planet. That is, as the planet passes between the probe's field of view and the monitored star, the star darkens.
Therefore, this new observation is revolutionary, as it happened through a terrestrial telescope, and a very modest one, by the way. At just 1.93 meters, or 75 inches, a telescope in France was able to spot the planet through the "radial velocity process".
What is the radial velocity process?
In a simplified way, this process works as a kind of analysis of gravitational effects, which are consequences of the interaction between the planet and its star. Therefore, these effects are “pulled” so that the observation can be carried out, which is quite revolutionary.
After all, this observation was more efficient and has a lower cost, so that new research using this model will be more prominent. As you can imagine, this news heated up the scientific community and Star Wars fans alike. To read the full study, you can access the website of the scientific journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and check out more about the Star Wars planet.