Kepler mission discovers planet orbiting binary stars

[DigiFluid]

It's been a staple of science fiction for many decades, but now it's science fact. NASA's Kepler mission, charged with finding planets outside our solar system, has discovered a gas giant in a constant orbit around a pair of stars. It's a gas giant, not in the habitable zone--so it's not Tatooine--but it's been proven possible nonetheless.

NASA's video

[Ukko]

Pretty awesome. What i would give to see a double sunset.

[Spimman]

[Morbo]

where's your messiah now, flanders?

[Galileo_Galilee]

What does god want with a binary star?

[Morbo]

What does god want with a binary star?

bring them closer

[Skydiver]

just wait, bet there's a trinary system out there somewhere

isn't it cool when scifi becomes scifact?

[DigiFluid]

isn't it cool when scifi becomes scifact?

It is!

[Galileo_Galilee]

Yeah mon! If it can be imagined it can eventually be done!

*Does Irish jig.*

Sci - fi is great at predicting these kinds of things. Because of sci - fi I knew of alternate dimensions long before people like Michau Kaku (sp?) starting hypothesizing about them. But science is great as finding out how these things actually work.

[mad_gater]

just wait, bet there's a trinary system out there somewhere

isn't it cool when scifi becomes scifact?

indeed....we haven't even scratched the surface of this great and awesome universe that He created...quite conceivable that that there exists solar systems with 3 or more stars

[Cold Fuzz]

just wait, bet there's a trinary system out there somewhere

isn't it cool when scifi becomes scifact?

indeed....we haven't even scratched the surface of this great and awesome universe that He created...quite conceivable that that there exists solar systems with 3 or more stars

there are actually some rather famous examples of multiple star systems already with some of them close to Earth astronomically speaking.

Sirius is a binary system, with the main star being a luminous bluish-white star and the companion a white dwarf with the mass of our sun.

Alpha Centauri is a trinary system, the main stars being yellow and orange and the third a much fainter red dwarf. Polaris is also a trinary system.

Mizar is quadrinary system.

Edit: Though we've observed these multiple stars through telescopes for a while, we aren't sure whether there are planets like gas giants orbiting these systems. That's what remarkable projects like the Kepler mission are for.

[DigiFluid]

There really was no reason to inject religion into this. Nor was there any reason to respond to it.

[Galileo_Galilee]

There really was no reason to inject religion into this. Nor was there any reason to respond to it.

I was making a Star Trek joke, actually.

[Skydiver]

stop getting yer knickers in a knot over your off topic posts being deleted.

[Galileo_Galilee]

stop getting yer knickers in a knot over your off topic posts being deleted

What???