Kepler finds 2 new planets separated by 1.9 million km

[kristoffer]

This is really amazing, it is a gas giant planet, 3.7 times wider than Earth, and a rocky planet 1.5 times wider than Earth. Their orbits are separated by 1.9 million km, that will say 4.9 LD, Lunar Distance

This solar system is called Kepler-36, 1200 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus

http://www.space.com/16242-alien-planet ... trise.html

Kepler-36b appears to be a rocky "super-Earth" 4.5 times as massive as our planet. The other, Kepler-36c, is a gaseous, Neptune-size world about eight times as massive as Earth. The two planets meet up every 97 days in a conjunction that would make each dramatically visible in the other's sky.

Kepler-36c, which is about 3.7 times wider than Earth, likely has a rocky core surrounded by a substantial atmosphere filled with lots of hydrogen and helium, researchers said.

Kepler-36b, on the other hand, is a super-Earth just 1.5 times wider than our planet. Iron likely constitutes about 30 percent of its mass, water around 15 percent and atmospheric hydrogen and helium less than 1 percent, researchers said.

Though they're very different in size and makeup, the two planets travel on surprisingly similar paths around their host star. Kepler-36c orbits once every 16 days, at an average distance of 12 million miles (19 million km). Kepler-36b orbits each 14 days and sits about 11 million miles (18 million km) from the star.

Kepler-36b probably formed relatively close to the star, while Kepler-36c likely took shape farther out. Astronomers model large-scale migrations that can bring initially far-flung planets much closer together, but the peculiar Kepler-36 system may force some refinements, researchers said.



I think that the rocky planet will be affected by the gravitational pull of Kepler-36c, so they will possibly collide with eachother sometime

[ajtribick]

This one was listed as KOI-277 in the Kepler planet candidates catalogue that I used to generate my add-on, only the Neptune-like planet was listed at that time.