Neptune-sized planet about 431 light-years away from Earth

Main Point:

Astronomers have found Kepler-410Ab that is a Neptune-sized planet outside of our solar system in a binary star system.

Published in:

The Astrophysical Journal

Study Further:

Kepler-410Ab is found to be rotating around a star present in a binary system named Kepler-410 that is also known as HD 175289 or KOI-42. This system has a fast-rotating planet host star, Kepler-410A, and a fainter companion, Kepler-410B, and is present in the constellation Lyra about 431 light-years away from us. Kepler-410A is considered to be the third brightest confirmed planet host star in the Kepler field and is one of the brightest hosts of all known transiting exoplanets.

Kepler-410Ab has a radius of about 2.8 times that of Earth. This planet is much closer to its star as compared to the distance of Earth from Sun, and it has a period of about 18 days.

Scientists are of opinion that there could be another planet in the system and this opinion came after observing perturbations on Kepler-410Ab.

“We are confident that there is another planet, but because it doesn’t move in front of the star, we don’t yet know what it is like,” said lead author Vincent Van Eylen.

Sources:

Bright star reveals new exoplanet – EurekAlert (http://goo.gl/lo4E8r)

V. Van Eylen et al. (2014). What asteroseismology can do for exoplanets: Kepler-410A b is a Small Neptune around a bright star, in an eccentric orbit consistent with low obliquity The Astrophysical Journal DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/782/1/14