* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: KOI-872

Blobrana · L

Unseen planet revealed by its gravity

A hidden planet, for example, can distort the sequence of transits if it gravitationally pulls on the transiting planet and delays some transits relative to others.
As part of the Hunt for the Exomoons with Kepler (HEK) project, the team analysed recently released Kepler data and identified systems with transiting planets that show transit variations indicative of hidden companions, such as unseen moons or planets. The team identified the Sun-like star known as KOI-872 (KOI stands for Kepler Objects of Interest) as exceptional in that it shows transits with remarkable time variations over two hours.
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Blobrana · L

KOI-872: Timing is Everything

It's no surprise that the techniques we're using to look for moons around exoplanets should start turning up new planets on their own. We're still looking for that first exomoon, but a team of researchers working with the Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK) project has found transit variations that have revealed a second planet around a star already known to have one transiting planet. The star is the intriguing KOI-872 (KOI stands for Kepler Object of Interest), the data on which were recently released by the Kepler team and analysed swiftly by HEK.
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