Posted on Thursday, February 06, 2014
On Earth we consider it quite usual that the Earth's axis precesses only around 24 degrees over a time period of 26 000 years. And as the axial tilt remains the same for the duration of a human life-time we also have regular seasons, that might be studded with some unusual weather but otherwise is usual.
Scientists working with the data from the Kepler mission have discovered a planet that precesses over a period of 11 years and the axis tilt can change up to 30 degrees. This kind of precession leads to erratic seasons on the planet. In addition it's orbit around the stars seems to move up and down, because of that the scientists had some unusual data, seeing 3 transits over a period of 180 days and then none for more than two years, and then 5 transits in a row again.
The planet, designated Kepler-413b circles an orange and a red dwarf star over a period of 66 days and is located in the constellation Cygnus.
Scientists working with the data from the Kepler mission have discovered a planet that precesses over a period of 11 years and the axis tilt can change up to 30 degrees. This kind of precession leads to erratic seasons on the planet. In addition it's orbit around the stars seems to move up and down, because of that the scientists had some unusual data, seeing 3 transits over a period of 180 days and then none for more than two years, and then 5 transits in a row again.
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| Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI) |
Labels: exoplanets, Kepler, nasa, news