Tatooine is a planet that orbits two suns in Star Wars, this type of body is called circumbinary planets. Now, thanks to a new technique detection can find such exoplanets much faster. This has been explained by the authors of the research in a new study published in the journal The Astronomical Journal. But How is it possible?
We like to find planets. In case we find life in the universe, yes; but also to understand how planets, solar systems or galaxies have formed. The search for knowledge is intrinsic to the human being, we like to know. That is why we also like to find new methodologies to investigate. Hence this new method to detect exoplanets like Tatooine is important to validate it, which is what this group of scientist has done. Now, we have a new technique that will allow us to find circumbinary planets in a faster way.
“Detecting circumbinary planets is much more complicated than detecting planets orbiting individual stars,” he explains in a Press release Nader haghighipour, a senior scientist at the Arizona Planetary Science Institute (PSI). “The most promising technique for detecting circumbinary planets is transit photometry, which measures the drops of stellar light caused by those planets whose orbits are oriented in space so that periodically pass among their stars and the telescope. In this technique, measurements of the decrease in the intensity of light from a star are used to infer the existence of a planet. “
This is how exoplanets are detected
In a simpler way, transit photometry, a technique used by missions such as NASA’s TESS, what is done is search for exoplanets by observing a star. If a planet (or several) pass in front of the star; the amount of light that reaches us is less than normal. That is, if we observe a star or a binary star system for a while, we can know if planets orbit around it.
However, the researcher explains that this is more complicated when there are several stars at stake. This is because the exoplanet has to pass in front of the two stars several times and that can take a long time.
“To precisely determine the orbit of the planet, at least three transit events are required. This becomes complicated when a planet orbits a double star system because the transits will not occur with the same interval on the same star. The planet it can transit through one star and then transit through the other before passing through the first star again, and so on. “
Nader Haghighipour, Senior Scientist at the Arizona Planetary Science Institute (PSI)
This is a problem because it takes up to three transits to be able to check well what is orbiting a star. That means binary star systems take a lot of research time. With the Kepler mission this was not a problem; but it seems that it is for TESS, the mission launched in 2018 to search for exoplanets. This probe only observes a part of the sky for 27 days and it is very possible that it will not look there again. But the most important thing is that with just that time it is practically impossible to detect three transits of circumbinary planets.
Therefore, finding planets like Tatooine takes a long time. And the TESS mission doesn’t seem like it can help researchers looking for circumbinary planets, does it?
New technique to detect planets
Traffic photometry is what has been done until now. In 2020, Haghighipour’s team published in the same magazine that with just two transits, one from each star, they could detect exoplanets orbiting binary stars. Now, they have detected the first planet with this new method using NASA’s TESS mission.
No, it is not the very Tatooine from Star Wars. Or at least it doesn’t seem like it from what we already know about him. The exoplanet found has the radius of Jupiter, although it is several times more massive That this. Furthermore, it orbits its two stars in less than one Earth year. It is a hot world and we have not seen anything like it in our solar system.
“Our group was able to show that despite its short observation window, it is still possible to use TESS to detect circumbinary planets. The new planet is proof of the validity, applicability and success of our invented technique. This discovery shows that our new technique works and it will be able to find many more planets “, concludes Haghighipour.
Ultimately, everything indicates that the new way to detect planets similar to Tatooine with TESS is effective. However, these researchers will have to continue to prove that it works. But it is still good news; since in this way we will continue to find exoplanets and study the universe. Perhaps one day we will be able to provide answers to questions that we still ask ourselves today about the formation of solar systems. Or why not find life in the universe.