Explanation:
Although it looks like fiction, this artist's vision
of sunset on an
alien world
is based on fact --
the
recent discovery
of a hot, jupiter-sized planet orbiting in
triple star
system HD 188753.
Only 149 light-years away in the
constellation Cygnus, HD 188553's
massive planet was detected by astronomer Maciej Konacki
after analyzing detailed spectroscopic data
from the Keck
Observatory.
The large planet itself is depicted at the upper
left in
this
imagined view from the well-illuminated
surface of a hypothetical rocky moon.
From
this
perspective,
the closest, hottest and most massive
star in the triple system, a star only a little hotter
than the Sun, has set below distant peaks.
The two other suns nearing the horizon are both cooler and
farther from the large planet.
While other hot, jupiter-like planets
are known to orbit
nearby stars, the "crowded" multiple star nature of this system
challenges current theories of
planet formation.
