NASA Discovers Largest Known Planet That Orbits Two Suns

A team of astronomers have reportedly discovered the largest known extra solar planet that orbits two stars. In addition, the distance of the planet from its different sized suns has been found to make it potentially habitable for life. The discovery was made with the help of NASA's Kepler space telescope.

Double suns! New planet that orbits 2 suns has been discovered using @NASAKepler telescope: https://t.co/GmxkCpalBY pic.twitter.com/NntHaln8vh

— NASA (@NASA) June 13, 2016

The newly confirmed exoplanet, known at the moment as Kepler-1647 b, is similar in size to Jupiter as per research. The large planet located outside our solar system has a wide orbit, and completes the orbit of its two suns in 1,107 days, or about three Earth years. Kepler-1647 b is around 4.4 billion years old, which makes it nearer to the age of our planet, and is located close to the Cygnus constellation around 3,700 light-years away from the Earth.

Planets that orbit two stars are referred to as circumbinary planets, and are sometimes unofficially called Tatooines after the fictional planet from the Star Wars movie franchise. Incidentally, the Kepler-1647 b is the eleventh circumbinary planet discovered since 2005, and it currently holds the distinction of being the largest one found until now. Moreover, it is located further away from its two parent stars than any other Tatooine, placing the Jupiter sized planet's orbit in a habitable zone which implies that water could exist in liquid form on it as it is neither too hot nor cold. However, since the planet is gaseous, the prospect of life existing there is not very likely though its moons could shelter life, according to reports.

"It's a bit curious that this biggest planet took so long to confirm, since it is easier to find big planets than small ones," said Jerome Orosz, study coauthor and astronomer from San Diego State University (SDSU. "But it is because its orbital period is so long". The astronomers, who discovered the planet, first noticed it in 2011 after observing its transit which was not regularly spaced in time and showed variations in duration and depth. The scientists confirmed the existence of Kepler-1647 b after in depth analysis and observation of numerous data, and presented the information at an American Astronomical Society meeting in San Diego.